*Photo: President Bola Tinubu*
The call by one Charles Udeogaranya for the impeachment of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on account of attending the recent Arab-Islamic summit in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia has been described as laughable, disingenuous and myopic.
The Companion-an association of Muslim men in business and professions made the remarks in a release signed by its National Amir, Engr. Kamil Olalekan and made available to newsmen in Lagos.
The statement reads:
“As a matter of fact, the unpatriotic call should ordinarily have been dismissed with a wave of hand and considered a mere attention seeking stunt from an individual of inconsequential relevance.”
Nonetheless, it submits that, “However for the purpose of educating him and his ilk who may harbour similar parochial sentiments, it is necessary to debunk the claims he made.”
The statement described as a great insult to the sensibility of Nigerians and the country’s constitution, the allegation, that “President Tinubu is unilaterally dragging Nigeria into Arab and Islamic nation’s affair”, while the submission that “Nigeria is predominantly a Christian nation by religion ” was said to be nothing, short of a spurious and nebulous claim.
According to the Muslim Group, “Nigeria is firmly in support of a two-state solution, to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.”
Besides, The Companion said Nigeria is a well-respected member of the international community by all standards and whose relevance and voice on international matters is recognized globally. This the Muslim organization noted, obviously earned her invitation to the Arab-Islamic summit like some other Non-Arab and Islamic countries.
It stressed that, “more importantly, and for the sake of clarification, people like Charles Udeogaranya need be better schooled that Nigeria is not and has never been a predominantly Christian nation.” The Companion said, it is a blatant lie taken too far, stressing that on the contrary, “Nigeria is predominantly a Muslim nation by all standards.
Justifying the assertion, it claims that, “Nigeria has the highest population of black Muslims all over the world with well over 115 million Muslims representing more than half of Nigerian population. Nigeria is also the 5th largest Muslim country in the world.”
The release retorts that, “matter-of-factly, the population of Nigerian Muslims is by far higher than any country in the Middle East region.
” Moreover, as a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation like many other predominantly Non-Muslim /Non-Arab nations, no Islamic summit anywhere in the world is complete without Nigeria .
The Companion reminded Charles Udeogarany that Nigeria has always played a major role in peace keeping all over the world.
“It is an incontrovertible fact, that every United Nations Peace Keeping mission in any part of the world has always involved Nigeria irrespective of the religious affiliation of the nations or peoples in conflict. It contends that.
“For us as Nigerians and Muslims in particular, HUMANITY is the top priority as only the wicked souls will sit on the fence or support Israel as it perpetrates genocide against the defenseless people of Palestine where tens of thousands of innocent children and women are being killed while their homes and social infrastructures are destroyed with reckless abandon,” The Companion said.
