Abba Anwar

They challenge with all seriousness the nature, modus operandi of the Conference. Professor Wole Soyinka, who is a Yoruba Christian, rejected in totality his invitation to the Conference, by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

The National Assembly were against the Conference simply because they see it as a usurpation of their constitutional right. And unfortunately for many of them they subsided in their call against the Conference. Many of them believe and are certained that Chief Obasanjo has a full and clear picture of how they became the (dis) Honourable members of the National Assembly. But with the exclusion of very few members like Honourable Farouq Lawan, from Kano State. He is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he was not in the good book of the then governor of Kano state, Alhaji Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, and he still scaled through. Some people rejected the whole idea of the Conference because their ethnic groups or trade associations were not judiciously embraced. I could also understand that there exist many cliques in the Nigerian polity, so whenever there is any arrangement that does not favour these cliques such an arrangement is condemnable to them. Others are vehemently against the Conference due to the non-inclusion of their self interest as the subject of deliberation in the Conference. My little advice to this group is they should exercise a little more patience that their interest might surface in due course. Well people have every right to express their openion. There are many more deliberate and intentioned weaknesses and fallacies of the Conference. And the most heartfelt and thought provoking machination is religiously inclined. What Chief Olusegun Obasanjo forgets or deliberately shuns away either by the act of commission or omission is the fact that Islam is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the Nigerian Muslims. It does not matter whether they are from the Southern part of the country or North. Chief Obasanjo should understand the basic fact that religion plays a significant role in the day to day affairs of the adherents. Islam in particular is still dear to its followers. Nobody should be deceived with the falling apart of the Muslims in the political power play. And almost all the Muslims are fully aware that it is Allah that protects Islam against either usurpers or subduers. There is no other basis than religion that Obasanjo used in handpicking the member of the National Political Reform Conference. One Mallam Mahadi Abubakar Sadiq neatly observed that," - Edo, Ondo and Ekiti states, each of which has more than 35 per cent Muslim population have no Muslim representative in the Conference. Likewise Taraba state which has no less than 50 per cent Muslim population got only 2 Muslim representatives while Christians have 4:.

It was also on record that Chief Obasanjo selected 47 members, the Muslims ware only 17 while the remaining 30 are full fledged Christians. In addition," out of the total number of 409 delegates the Muslims were only 160 while Christians are 249. There are 89 more Christian delegates than there are Muslims at the Conference.

Mahadi Sadiq further observed the following as some of the anticipated implications: Our serious attention is needed on what is going on because the arrangement puts Muslims at a disadvantaged position. We are in no position to influence decisions at the conference because Christians have enough strength in terms of the number of the delegates to get any issue through if they so desire Christians have 100 per cent advantage when it comes to the use of administrative maneuver by managers of the Conference, because it is almost 100 per cent managed by Christians Muslims participation in this Conference with the current lopsided leadership and delegates in favour of Christians would only provide legitimacy to the Conference. And this is the desire of the architects of the Conference There seem to be many approaches to the issue of whether the Obasanjos styled Conference is aimed at belittling Islam and the Muslims. Lets assume that the Conference had no hidden plan of countering Islam in the first place. But it was Obasanjo himself who raised some dust and gave a religious coloration to the conference. That was when he out numbered the Christians above Muslims in his selection process. And secondly he, either ignorantly or deliberately made the statement that there was no religious biasness in the composition of the Conference. As a result of that, he straightforwardly challenged that there was no official statistics in the country, which shows the number of the adherents of the major religious we have in the country which I vehemently counter his claim in my previous write-up. I gave him the official statistics of the nations population census of 1953 and 1963. In which Muslims out numbered Christians in the country.

Another point of argument is if Chief Olusegun Obasanjo thinks this is his style of fighting terrorism, so he is definitely dead wrong. If the Conference is worth doing and Obasanjo is doing this to please the Western rookies, it is very unfortunate for him. He is at the same time endangering his political calculations.

Many leaders have different ways of fighting against terrorism. What I am saying in essence is that different leaders of different nations of the world have different interpretations of the concept of terrorism, thereby resulting in different methods of fighting it. So if our so-called national leader or rather leadership thinks these are some of the ways to fight against terrorism, they should please forget about the corporate existence of the country called Nigeria.

I was made to believe that so many people see as waste of time and an exercise in futility a debate on the composition or modus operandi of the Conference. According to the proponents of this opinion this Conference together with its composition and all its attachments are nothing but a show of shame, a manifestation of a sham view and foolishness of the highest order. This group do not even bother to look at the percentage of either Muslims or Christians in the Conference. To them almost all the participants are not representing anything but Obasanjo’s selfish interest. Time is there to tell us more about that. So many Muslims across the country raised some alarm on the composition of the shattered and completely teleguided National Conference. It is the collective nature of the outcry that gives more strength to the call. There are individual voices here and there is also a more collective voice. A public outcry in all forms. The National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the Jama'atul Nasril Islam (JNI) are the fundamental Muslim bodies that are in the forefront of battling with the composition of the Conference. The prominent individuals that are vehemently against Obasanjo’s orchestrated machination are people like Justice Abubakar Oririe, Dr. Ibrahim Datti Ahmad, Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi, the Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Mustapha Jokolo, Sheikh Ja'afar Mahmud Adam and many more. In my montage of imaginaries I have never expected Obasanjo to appoint members in a just and transparent way. The gospel of democracy should please come out and tell people what Obasanjo’s law of selectivity means to Islam and Muslims in this country. Few days back the National Supreme Council for Is lamic Affairs (NSCIA), visited Chief Obasanjo in Aso Rock, bluntly telling him the fears and dismay of the Muslims in the country over the biased composition of the The Conference. The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Maccido, led the powerful delegation. To the surprise of all Obasanjo rejected all the demands of the delegation, with the excepting of appointing a co-secretary to the confab. He (Obasanjo) described the respectful delegation as "crowd'. And made it known to them that he was disappointed. I am so sure that this stand is anti, Christ If Obasanjo is doing all these things because he is a Christian and is interested in undermining Islam so he should know that he is perceiving things in total contradiction with the tenets of genuine Christianity.

Jesus himself is vehemently against injustice and improper positioning of things. Unless if Obasanjo is having a blocked brain and addled head.