The Nigerian Consul-General to New York, Mr. Habib Habu, has since he was posted to New York a little over a year ago, been receiving accolades from the Nigerian Diaspora community for his accessibility and the reforms he has instituted within the consulate operations. But he seems to be caught in a religious controversy over a remark he was allegedly said to have made regarding his inability to attend a wake –keeping service for Nigerian immigrants who were killed in a horrendous car crash over a month ago while returning from the annual convention of the Arondizougu people in New York. The car crash had claimed five lives and was national news all over the United States, with several elected officials sending messages of condolence and prayers to the families of the bereaved.
According to Chike Onyeani-the publisher of The African Sun Times newspaper- a New Jersey based on-line publication, he had called the consul-general and sought to know why the “consulate did not react to the tragic death of the five Nigerians which had made national news in America, that he didn’t not visit or send his representatives to visit the surviving victims of the accident, and that he didn’t participate in the wake-keeping on Friday-August 10th. Before I could even finish, Mr. Habu shot back at me and angrily stated ‘Mr. Onyeani, I am a Muslim. I can never enter a church.’ I couldn’t believe my ears. I said to him “Mr. Habu, you are the Consul-General of Nigeria and not the consul-General of Nigerian Muslims and your predecessors, whether Muslims or Christians or any other religion, have taken to visit Nigerians whether in the church or in the mosque.’ He replied, “Well, they are they, and I am me. I can never enter a church.”
The Nigerian Diaspora community has been up in arms and several Internet sites have started a campaign to recall the consul-general. Concerned about the alleged statement and the way it would be perceived by Nigerians-especially given the two deadly elements that were at play here: ethnic and religion, and given the sectarian issues that currently afflict the Nigerian state due to Boko Haram, I called the consul-General and sought to have his side of the story.
“Mr. Udoh” Mr. Habu stated, “you have known me since I got here. Does that sound like something I would say? I am an apostle of inclusion and not exclusion. Mr. Onyeani took my remarks out of context. I wish to point out for the avoidance of doubt, that since my arrival in New York, I have had the pleasure of attending meetings, dedications, baptismal in churches not only in New York but in other states under the jurisdiction of the Consulate-General. I never told Mr. Onyeani that ‘I can never enter a church.” I have had the pleasure, both in Nigeria and the USA, of joining my friends in all their events held in churches. But I have never attended a church service. I have never been, and will never be a religious bigot. I am proud of being a Muslim, but it has never beclouded my judgment of other religions or people of other faiths.’ Mr. Habu had stated.
www.thisdaylive.com/articles/why-divorces-are-rampant-in-our-community-ii-/122653/