SAN FRANCISCO, September 18, (THEWILL) – Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has incurred the wrath of a group of Christian youths over his anti-Christian statements and may have unknowingly dragged the Muslim community into the controversy.
The group, The Christian Youth Vanguard (CYV), a coalition of various Christian youth organisations with members across the country, said it would “reciprocate in equal measure” El- Rufai’s uncomplimentary statements on Christians by also descending on various Muslim leaders, including Prophet Mohammed and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar 111, who is the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.
El Rufai had in what has been described as his careless statements described the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and its President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, as appendages of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This was a follow-up to his earlier uncomplimentary and controversial statement on Jesus Christ.
But the CYV said on Wednesday that it would no longer tolerate the former Ministers careless talks and blasphemy. The group in a statement by its National Coordinator, Yakubu Mecham and Secretary, Emeka Okoli, said from El Rufai’s uncomplimentary remarks about CAN , Oritsejafor and the Christian faith in Nigeria, “then someone needs to help El- Rufai before he goes completely mental.”
The Christian youths said El Rufai “in his usual fit of madness made blasphemous and abominable tweets about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” adding “and it was swept under the carpet for peace sake ”
even as it asked what would have happened if such a blasphemous remark was made about Prophet Mohammed by a Christian .
The group however warned the former minister that it would no longer sit and watch him disparage Christians and Jesus Christ any longer .
“Enough of this insults on our Christian faith and our CAN President!
The CYV (which is a coalition of various Christian Youth Groups spread all over Nigeria) hereby notify El – Rufai and his group of unpatriotic Nigerians that we will not sit back and tolerate insults aimed at our Christian leader any longer.
“We wish to stress very emphatically that henceforth, any further careless statements, comments or insults on our Faith or on the person of our CAN President will be reciprocated in equal measure. A word, they say, is enough for the wise.
“Come to think of it, between our CAN President and the Sultan of Sokoto, who is more guilty of those inglorious remarks by El-Rufai?
Does El- Rufai not know that the Sultan’s second office outside Sokoto is at Aso Villa where he gets a lot of patronage? Does he not know that there is hardly any State Governor who does not host the Sultan at close intervals?
“Or where he cannot go, they go to him? It is common knowledge that the Sultan who doubles both as religious and traditional leader of Muslims in Nigeria is involved in all kinds of political consultations and other activities not worthy of his exalted position, why is El-Rufai and his cohorts not attacking the Sultan with such disparaging comments?,” the group said.
Wondering what Oritsejafor has done to warrant “this kind of insult, which by extension is an insult to the entire Christian Community in Nigeria” from El-Rufai, the group asked:
“Is it because the CAN President was bold enough to call for the arrest of a bigot, a serial election loser, a Muslim fanatic and a morally bankrupt man called Muhammadu Buhari? Is it not a well known fact that the unguarded statements and dangerous incitement by Buhari at a very critical and volatile time, laid the foundation for the insurgencies we are witnessing in most northern states today?
“This unpatriotic Nigerian who by absolute error of judgment and circumstance became a military Head of State has now recruited a mad dog like El- Rufai, who revels in controversy at all times to be his hatchet man for the purpose of heating up the polity to achieve their devilish purpose.”
The group said for El-Rufai to make such uncomplimentary remarks against the CAN leader clearly shows that he lacks respect for the Sultan of Sokoto who is the spiritual leader of the Muslim faith which
El- Rufai claims to profess.
“If El-Rufai does not have respect for the sanctity of life, let him start by destroying his immediate family, then we will be convinced that he means to cause mayhem to other Nigerians through his senseless and wicked utterances against our CAN President and leader of the Christian faith in Nigeria,” CYV said as it maintained that Christians in Nigeria were not timid or afraid of trouble “but are simply God-fearing and peace loving.”
According to the group, “The fact that our current CAN President is bold to speak out correctly when things go wrong in the society is unsettling to the likes of El- Rufai who still belong to the old era of impunity and suppression of Christians in Nigeria.
“This same El-Rufai, it was, who used his evil mouth to confess then that his new pay master, Buhari, is absolutely unfit to rule his village, talk less of his State Katsina and Nigeria at large in a democratic setting.
Without shame, and having lost relevance in the current dispensation, El- Rufai has swallowed his vomit and gone back to Buhari to form an evil alliance to fight the government and highly respected personalities, including those who took him and his family out of the gutter and gave him a new lease of life.
“It is evident that El- Rufai has an unstable character which is gradually leading him to madness.
“Unfortunately, it is only in Nigeria where the likes of El-Rufai who is standing trial for criminal offences while in office both as head of BPE and as FCT Minister that will have the mouth to make public comments.
This is a man who criminally shared government land to his wives and children at the expense of overriding public interest and should be in jail, away from responsible people.”
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