Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State is swimming in fresh
troubled political waters barely one month after receiving
mass condemnation from Nigerians for his death-wish
advertorial against retired Major General Muhammadu
Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC).
This time around, Fayose has been indicted by the Supreme
Council for Islamic Affairs (SCIAN) for allegedly sponsoring
malicious media advertisement, using Islamic pseudo
names ‘The Southern Nigeria Al-Hikmah Generation’,
targeted at painting General Buhari as wanting to operate
Sharia in the country, if elected President at the
forthcoming polls.
SCIAN, speaking through a member of its General Purpose
Committee, Alhaji Kunle Sanni, told journalists in Ibadan
yesterday that the Council had uncovered plots by Fayose
“to create tension within the Muslim Ummah or divide us
politically” with the purported advertisement which
appeared in some national dailies recently under the
pseudo name ‘The Southern Nigeria Al-Hikmah Generation’.
While condemning the advertisement in its totality, SCIAN
disclosed that its “investigation has revealed that Governor
Fayose is the one using some people to perpetrate this
ignoble act with the aim of creating tension among the
muslim community.”
“We condemn it in all its totality,” Kunle Sanni stated.
He declared: “Our Council noted with concern the contents
of a media advertisement carried by an organization which
called itself ‘The Southern Nigeria Al-Hikmah Generation’
commending Buhari for wanting to operate Sharia. From all
our records, there is no organization with that name and we
have done our research, we looked at the address inscribed
on that advert, but our investigation revealed that that
address does not exist.
“We see it as an avenue to create tension within the Muslim
Ummah or divide us politically. We are no politicians. We
don’t belong to any political group. But our members
belong to several political groups. And we don’t want them
to create confusion within the Muslim Ummah. So, we see
this advert as the handiwork of some very desperate
politicians who want to blackmail the presidential candidate
of the APC, using the Islamic card. And we don’t see think
this election has to do with religion. It has to do with the
issues of integrity, discipline and those who are prepared to
reshape the economy of Nigeria so that the country can be
a better place for all of us.
Source: Daily Trust