BEVERLY HILLS, May 30, (THEWILL) – An Islamic group, Jamaatu Izalatul Bidiah Wa Ikamatus Sunnali, JIBWS, has commended the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki for the role he played in thwarting the emergence of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket for the All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2015.
This was as the group asserted that the country was “not yet ripe for a Muslim-Muslim Presidential ticket. Nigeria was not ripe for such an arrangement which did not take into consideration the need for religious balance in the country”.
THEWILL recalls that a national leader of the APC Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had alleged that Saraki was among party bigwigs who worked against the plan to make him running mate to Muhammadu Buhari in the APC presidential ticket for the 2015 election. Both Tinubu and Buhari are Muslims.
During a visit to the Senate President on Tuesday, the JIBWS national executive led by its President, Sheikh Mohammed Sani Yahaya Jingiri, advised that all religious interests in the country must be represented at all times.
Sheikh Jingiri commended the National Assembly for rejecting same sex marriages and capital punishment, describing them as unIslamic. He however urged Saraki to ensure that the current Gender Bill reflected the tenets of all religions.
The group further requested the Senate President to ensure equal representations in political appointments in line with the population of states, while at the same time ensuring that a cordial relationship exists between all arms of government for the benefit of the people.
In his response, the Senate President promised that the Gender Bill currently before the National Assembly would be fair to all religious groups and sentiments.
He also stated that his relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari has remained cordial, despite what he described as false claims in some quarters.
According to him, “I want to assure you of the good cooperation between the legislative arm and executive, led by President Muhammudu Buhari.
“Since the commencement of this Senate, I think we had about 196 requests from President Buhari for confirmation of his nominees and we have confirmed 185. I think, we have only rejected 11. By Mathematics, that is over 90 per cent.
“I want to assure you there is a lot of noise you will see on the newspaper, radio and social media, please be assured that the two arms of government are working closely together, more than in past sessions of the Senate.
“In January, I went to see and assured him of our cooperation and we’ve continued to work closely. I want to assure you as we always say, let us be judged by our actions and not by talk.
“A lot of people talk, but do something else when you are not around and loyalty can be best measured by what people do when you are not around.
“I want to appeal to you now that you are here to convey the same message to your followers, who because of social media and the fake news they hear over radio get the wrong impression that we in the Senate, the Senate President and the senators are working against the President. I assure you that we have a very cordial relationship with the executive.”
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