Nigerian Christians seem to have been conquered in the politics of the occupation of the principal political offices in the country under a continuous All Progressive Congress (APC) incoming government, Writes Udoka Ekeleme from Abuja
As the Nigeria’s incoming president Bola Ahmed Tinubu warms up to take over the country’s political leadership from the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari come May 29, 2023, one bitter pill hard to swallow awaits the entire Christian community in the country under Tinubu presidency: All Christians may remain at the receiving end throughout the tenure of the administration.
Given Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket at the 2023 presidential election which was vehemently and out rightly rejected by most Christians across the country, Nigeria is set make do with a Federal Government under which the five principal offices at the federal level will be occupied by only Muslim from the South west, North west and North east. The principal administrative offices are the President and Commander-Chief of the Armed Forces, President of the Nigerian Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chief Justice of the Federation.
Several analysts are contending further that beyond the afore mentioned offices, most juicy Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) may all be occupied by Muslims from the South west, North west, North east, with the South east, South south and Middle Belt regions leaking their wounds in the distribution of political offices in the nation. These contend that under a Tinubu–Kassim Shettima presidency, the South west will take the presidency while North east will produce the vice president. The president of the Senate will most likely be zoned to the North west, while an All Progressives Congress (APC) member from the North east may occupy the office of the Speaker of House of Representatives.
Under this assumption, especially given how Buhari ran his government, Tinubu may retain the Chief Justice of the Federation Justice Kayode Ariwoola whom the administration would deploy to prosecute litigations that may arise from the presidential election heist. Tinubu government may also retain the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Mohammed Bello-Koko, his counterpart at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mele Kyari as well as the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety (NIMASA) and the service chiefs whom it is alleged helped in making Tinubu the next president of Nigeria.
President Buhari ran an all exclusive government throughout his eight years in office as the president which orchestrated the occupation of the five principal political administrative offices – President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker of House of Representatives and CJN – by the South west, North west and North east, with the exclusion of South east, South south and North central. Tinubu ran for the presidency on a Muslim – Muslim ticket which attracted wild protestations across the country and even reflected in the voting pattern during the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
The fear of the exclusion of the South east, South south and North central from the core administrative offices of the nation state under a Tinubu-Shettima government stares these three regions mainly populated by Christians, in the face. Analysts fear that the major administrative offices will all be occupied by only Muslims from South west, North east and North west. Even in the military and the paramilitary, not a few analysts fear that heads of all the Service Chiefs and heads of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), as well as those of other paramilitary agencies will be occupied by mostly Muslims of the North west and North east extraction because the two Muslim dominated regions played prominent role in the election of Tinubu as the next president.
Tinubu is expected to also favour the retention of the serving service chiefs, perhaps excluding Lucky Irabor, the Chief of Defence Staff (South south) due to the region he comes from. The military has been accused of allegedly playing the ostrich during the February 25 alleged heist called presidential election where all manners of electoral malpractices were allowed with little or no reaction from the security apparatus. During the election that produced Tinubu as the president last February, widespread thumb printing of ballot papers, child or underage voting, ballot box snatching, thuggery and other forms of brazing rigging tactics were deployed allegedly by the ruling APC to orchestrate Tinubu’s victory at the presidential poll.
Another fear that stares the Christian community in Nigeria in the eyes is the impending granting of full or permanent membership status of the organization of Islamic States (OIC) to Nigeria by the world Islamic body. Unconfirmed reports had it that Nigeria had remained an observer member of the OIC since in the 1980s when the military junta of those days had secretly registered the country as an observer nation with the OIC. Also, unconfirmed reports alleged that Nigeria would be promoted to the permanent membership status of the OIC if and when the country has had a Muslim–led presidency for consecutive 10 years. Instructively, Buhari, a Muslim from the North west, has been president for eight years. Tinubu’s presidency is expected to complete the 10 consecutive years of Muslim presidency which would lift Nigeria from its observer status and seal its fate as a permanent member of the OIC.
To the consternation of the Christian community in Nigeria, permanent membership of the OIC by any nation comes with dire consequences against non-Muslims, including the adoption of the Islamic Sharia Law across the length and breadth of such country.
