The Christian Rights Agenda (CRA) has condemned the
forceful conversion of some Christian
girls from Christianity to Islam by Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar
Ganduje, describing the act as provocative.
The CRA in a statement issued by its interim Director
of Publicity, Tom Chiamen, noted with concern that since becoming governor in 2015, Ganduje has
made it a state policy to embark on mass conversion of indigenous Hausa
Christians using money and coercion every Friday.
According to the statement made available to journalists,
"The indigenous Hausa Christians in the state have been subjugated under
Ganduje’s administration, and are denied their rights and privileges as
citizens.
"A clear example is the denial of scholarships
to Christian students studying in tertiary institutions in and outside Kano State."
The group alleged that many Hausa Christians have
also been denied employment opportunities and live in perpetual fear as second
class citizens in the state.
It stated that despite clear improvement in
infrastructure in the state, Christian dominated parts of Kano metropolis are
still in their pre-1999 ruinous conditions.
The group further said: "But expending state resources for
jihad-inspired conversion of Christian minors by force, tricks, intimidation,
threats and all kinds of backward means is the most annoying insult indigenous
Christians of Kano State are forced to live with under Ganduje."
CRA stated that the lame explanation by the
governor that the teenage girls in question are pagans and not Christians is
not tenable “because pagans don’t bear Biblical names such as Rebecca.
"So we demand that these girls and many others
be returned to their parents with immediate effect or we will be left with no other
option than to take legal action against the state government in addition to
reporting him to the international community, including the International
Criminal Court (ICC), United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the
governments of the United States of America, Britain and the European Union.
"We call on all men and women of goodwill,
including President Muhammadu Buhari, to caution Ganduje to desist from his
mission and release the girls and many other forcefully abducted and converted
to Islam."
The Christian group said it is very disheartening
that the Chairman of the Northern
Governors’ Forum and Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, and the Chairman of
the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Chief Audu Ogbeh, who both are Christians,
have remained silent over this dangerous
path by towed by Ganduje.
According to CRA, "The deafening silence by
Lalong and Ogbeh at this time is never golden and may be construed to be
acquiescence. It is time they came out and talk."
The governor's action, the group added, portends great danger to the fragile unity,
peace and stability of Nigeria as a country.
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