“As I speak to you right now I have over 1,000 names from
Borno State alone. Christians that have registered they
have their temporal voters’ cards but when they go to
the point of collecting their permanent voters’ cards
they are told that somebody has collected them or they
are not there.” – Northern Christians Elders Forum
It is no longer news that the Northern Christian Elders Forum in an interview with the Channel Television refuted the reported endorsement of All Progressive Congress (APC) party candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, but the unbelievable revelation of how Christians are still being treated in this present Nigeria in northern parts of the country is shockingly awkward – to say the least, and deserves urgent publicity and adequate attention.
The representatives of the body Evang. Matthew Owujaiye, former chairman of the Northern Christian Elders Forum, and Elder Sunday Oyile, Public Relations Officer of the Northern Christian Association of Nigeria (NCAN) while expressing their frustration about the high degree of discrimination, shabby treatments and unequal opportunities against the Christians in the north, equally raised alarm on how the voters’ cards of many people in the north have been collected by unknown individuals suggesting that the coming general elections may have been rigged even before casting of any vote.
While Owujaiye and Oyile also conveyed the message that an average Muslim in the north is also suffering in the hands of the politicians and the elites who have systematically structured education to fail, they declared that they were tired to be used as tools or as an extension of Uthman Dan Fodio’s empire as conquered people.
Global Reporters penned down the words of the interview for the perusal of our general audience. Excerpt:
What is the political situation and preparation like in the northern part of Nigeria?
Well, you have permanent interest not permanent friends. Sadauna said, ”This new nation called Nigeria will be treated as an extension of Uthman Dan Fodio’s empire. The southern protectorate will be treated as conquered territories and the minorities in the north will be used as tools.” The minority in the north is not a minority in population; it is only made up of minority tribes. We are tired of being used as tools; we want to have a voice. So that is the political situation. The minorities want to have a voice, want to stand where they think their interest can be taken care of.
How are they going about having this voice?
We have several issues; like the Christians. One thing you need to understand is that there are minorities who are not Christians. They are Muslims but they are part of the minorities and suffer what the minorities suffer. For the Christians, in most government secondary schools they won’t allow teaching of Christian religious studies and even if you want to pay teachers to come and do it, they will not agree. In some of the northern states you can’t get a certificate of occupancy for your church. For you to know how long we have suffered, in 1980, I was working in First Bank and a letter of promotion came from Lagos that I should move to Kano to take the position of the officer coordinator. But, I was kept in my seat in Kaduna and they put another person on that seat even though the letter had come from the headquarters in Lagos.
So, our areas are marginalized in development, in appointment, we are marginalized. This has gone on for years and we are tired!
There was a reported endorsement of Buhari by Christian leaders in the northern part of the country, what’s your position on that?
You rightly used the correct word – reported endorsement of General Buhari by the Christian leaders in the north, Eagle Eye. I am a founding member of the Northern Christian Elders Forum, I have been with the Christian Association of Nigeria for over thirty years and I am the Public Relations Officer of nineteen northern states (CAN). And all of those characters you see there, none of them is known to us. As I talk to you the chairman of CAN in the north, respected Archbishop Peter Jato never came with his exco to say we are endorsing anybody, because we are not political parties, and we are not politicians. Those people you see there are not known to us. That is the reason why we are here.
I have discovered that “419” succeeds when people are desperate, when people are greedy. So, desperate politicians have played into the hands of those who are greedy and have come to take money from them. I give you an example: a sister thought it was CAN Abuja that was having that meeting at the International Conference Centre, when she got to that place she did not see any of the known leaders of the church and she sat among these people. And some of these pastors in quote were saying, “Let this man finish his long talk so we can share the money and go.” Others said, “Are we stupid that they will hire us to come and do this type of thing.” What General Buhari has done to himself is that he has played into the hands of people who are desperate to make money and they have made money out of him. They are imposters. People should ask them, which church do they represent? They know Nigerian politicians are desperate and they took advantage of that.
You said the Christian Association of Nigeria, nineteen northern states and indeed the Christian Elders Forum in the northern states are non-political with no endorsement for any candidate. But then if you are non-political, how do you hope to get your voice heard?
You see, when you get to the polling point, it is only you. So nobody would say this is where you are to put it because only you will put it. But if you have known that I represent Jesus, I am ready to die for Jesus, I’m not ready to die for a political party. So when the interest of Jesus is concerned, I won’t take 1 billion dollars to vote otherwise. If I vote for a candidate because I think he will keep my faith even if he loses I’m okay. God will know that I have voted for the person according to my conscience. So we don’t tell anybody who to vote.
But do you have any relationship with the political parties in the northern states?
No, we are free. Anybody can come and see us. Our members can belong to any group. But at the end everybody would know this is where our interest lies without force.
Your members can belong to political parties, but you leaders do not belong to any political party?
No, we don’t. We are not partisan and do not belong to any political party.
(Turning to Oyile) What has your experience of being marginalized been like?
The situation of the Christians and minority tribes in the north has been very pathetic. In Kaduna State we have 53 dialectical nationalities. Hausa is just one. But here everybody thinks anybody from the north is a Hausa/Fulani person. And that is not correct. So our experiences have been because of these small groupings scattered all over the place. They decided not to allow us come together. And the colonial masters that brought Nigeria to be did not help us. You cannot go and apply to read some certain courses in ABU. I give you an example: an interview was conducted for who to be the Vice Chancellor of ABU, which is a federal university. A Christian from the southern part of Kaduna gapped the closest person to him with 36 points, but he was prevented from being the VC because he is a Christian and that has been the experience of Christians. I have a friend from Sokoto, he is a professor, the wife is a PhD holder, they left the north and they have been residing in Lagos here for years simply because nobody will give them a job to do in the north, simply because they are Christians. So that has been our plight. And it is a continuous age long practice and there has never been any change. Even the issue of these elections you see, when people talk about the attack of Boko Haram in Maiduguri, Yobe and Adamawa, people think that it happens everywhere. Ninety per cent of areas Boko Haram attack and hoist their flags are predominantly Christian areas but nobody reports that.
In terms of education and development, are they spread across board?
I went to Government College Keffi. Saudana was a great man – we paid only three pounds for a whole year. Now, it is the missions and private schools that saved the north from total collapse. The north was at least 20 years behind the south in education before Boko Haram, but now we are forty years behind. Education was programmed to fail in the north because the big men don’t want the children of the Kalakawa (poor) to be educated so that they would not compete with their own children. Their own children do not go to the government primary schools and so do not sit on the floors in class rooms, they do not go to the government secondary schools, and the children of the poor masses can finish secondary school without being able to write. The same thing is happening now at the universities. Our universities now are neither efficient in theory nor practically. Their children are not there. Where are their children? – Abroad and in private universities.
I have a question to ask those rich men from the northern states that have benefited from the government. Can any one of them come out and say I took money from my pocket and put borehole in the village, I equipped a laboratory in any secondary school, I bought exercise books and gave to secondary school students?
If we are to go and take WASC and NECO results from the north and remove all the private school results, the remaining results will be a disaster. So our own people have cheated us, not just the Christians or the minorities but the masses of the north. And it is a pitiable thing.
Do you have your permanent voter card?
I registered, but when I went to collect it they said somebody has collected it on my behalf and the person collected my wife’s own too. Now if people are collecting voters’ cards on-behalf of people; is that the normal thing? They did not tell me the name of the person, and they do not know the person any more.
Surely the person signed.
That is the problem. Did they sign? They should check? This is malpractice going on. I came back and told them that this matter will get to Abuja, and they know that I can do it. Some weeks later they said a child came to my house and brought the two cards – for my wife and myself that the mother said they should give us. That is why and how I got my voter’s card because I threatened that the matter will get to Abuja.
As I speak to you right now I have over 1,000 names from Borno State alone. Christians that have registered they have their temporal voters’ cards but when they go to the point of collecting their permanent voters’ cards they are told that somebody has collected them or they are not there. The people are frustrated and they do not know what to do. I have the data. So this process is programmed to disenfranchise some certain people, particularly the Christians of the northern Nigeria.
What is the situation in Borno State especially with the case of Chibok girls return and all of that?
The situation in Borno State is still pathetic. Pathetic in the sense that our people who have been displaced, chased away from their places of nativities – scattered in Abuja, Nasarawa, Plateau, and all over the places, these people are Nigerians and they want to go back to their homes. They are crying to go back home, especially to exercise their franchise of voting, but they cannot go.
The crew of Global Reporters hope that security forces and INEC officials have taken notes. (Source: Global Reporters)