Muslim Leaders Visit President Jonathan To Complain About Marginalization

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, on Wednesday led some prominent Muslims in the country to the Presidential Villa, Abuja to protest what they called their marginalisation.At a closed-door meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo and a few top government officials, the Muslims under the aegis of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs specifically faulted the composition of the national conference which they claimed was skewed against them.The Secretary-General of NSCIA, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting that lasted about an hour.Oloyede however said the President assured the delegation that his administration is committed to being fair to all Nigerians irrespective of theirreligion or tribe.He said Jonathan asked members of the delegation to convey his message to all Muslims in the country that even if there are issues that are not as they ought to be, they are not done deliberately.Oloyede said while they would believe the President, members of the delegation also hold the belief that it isproper for them to protest to Jonathan.He said, “We are happy we consulted with the President, and he has given usreasons to re-assure the Muslims in Nigeria are not deliberately marginalised and he has asked us to convey the feelings of the government, the genuineness of the government, the fairness of the government to the entire populace.“He said that if there are issues that are not as they ought to be, they were not definitely deliberate and we want to believe that Mr. President told us his mind but we also want to believe that it is proper to protest, it is also proper to assume that a leader will always be just even if there are mistakes thereafter.“We just felt that we must convey the feelings of the Muslims in Nigeria to Mr. President and he has given us his words to re-assure the Muslims community that he is a genuine and committed Christian who will not be unjust to others.”When asked to be specific on some of the feelings the Muslims conveyed to the President, Oloyede mentioned the composition of the ongoing national conference.“May be because you are not a Muslim, if you are a Muslim, you will know the feelings of the Muslims presently about the composition of theNational Conference,” he concluded.Abubakar refused to speak with journalists at the end of the meeting.
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