Nigeria is a secular state, says Martins as group cautions against ethno-religious bigotry

Archbishop of Metropolitan See of Lagos, The Most Reverend Alfred Adewale Martins, says since Nigeria was a secular nation, President Buhari should not have attended the OIC meeting at a time the citizens were opposing alleged Fulanisation of the country.

He argued that the President’s move may have sent a wrong signal to the country, adding that Buhari should rather address restructuring of the country, which he has agreed to without further delay, as things were not right in the country, a situation, he said, only restructuring could address.

While lamenting the killings and kidnappings in the country with no single person yet held accountable for the various crimes, he also charged President Buhari to focus on the security challenges facing the country.

Meanwhile, the Coalition for Truth and Justice has cautioned the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) against promoting hate speeches and ethno-religion bigotry.

The group was reacting to HURIWA’s comment over President Buhari’s attendance of the OIC summit in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

HURIWA had faulted the President for attending the IOC summit a day after his swearing-in for second term in office, describing it as “illegal and unconstitutional.”

But Executive Director of the group, Timothy Charles, in a statement, warned HURIWA to rather focus on deemphasising religion as opposed to highlighting sectarian differences in a way that could hurt national cohesion.

Also, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council has described calls for the President’s resignation over his attendance of the OIC meeting as idiotic and barbaric, saying such call was capable of plugging Nigeria into a religious war that would consume Igbo in the North.

In a statement in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, President General of OYC, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, distanced OYC from such call urging those behind it to stop using Igbo platform against the President.