Buhari Pursuing Islamic Agenda With Sukuk Bond, Alleges CAN

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has stated that the federal government was trying to sell Nigeria to Arab countries through the Sukuk bond, insisting that the President Muhammadu Buhari government was pursuing an Islamisation agenda.

The body, in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its General Secretary, Rev’d. Musa Asake, opposed the floating of the Sukuk Islamic bond by the Federal Government, seeing it as a means of islamising the country through the back door.

It pointed out that the International Monetary Fund, IMF, had stated that the issuance of Sukuk by non-Islamic countries was a breach of the religious neutrality of the government of such states.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, explains the bond thus: “Sukuk is not an attempt to Islamise Nigeria in any form. On the contrary, it is an attempt at financial inclusiveness. The difference between Sukuk Bond and other bonds is that if you invest in Sukkuk bond, you earn no interest.

“So, the scheme appeals to many people who don’t believe that money should gather interest. They, however, engage in profit sharing in the sense that if the government makes a profit from the bond, they give the investor a part of it but if the government makes no profit, the investor is not entitled to anything.”

But CAN maintained that Nigeria is a secular state hence the government is expected to be neutral on issues involving religion.

Arguing that the promotion of a sectional religious financial policy was a violation of the Constitution, it threatened to seek legal redress if the laws and framework behind the controversial bond was not abrogated.

The statement reads in part, “The Christian Association of Nigeria has been protesting against this aberration since the Osun State Government, under Governor Rafiu Aregbesola, embarked on this violation of the Constitution.

“Rather than stand in the defence of the constitution, it is disappointing to note that the Federal Government is pursuing what is an outright confirmation of an Islamisation agenda.

“The recent floating of Sukkuk Bond by the government is not only sectional but illegal and a violation of the Constitution. Every law that has been promulgated to back the Sukuk issuance and promote an Islamic banking system in Nigeria is ultra vires, illegal, null and void.”

The Christian association noted that there was never a time Nigeria held a referendum or convened a Constituent Assembly that passed a resolution that the nation had transmute into an Islamic State.