I'd skip the pleasantries and get right to the point of this.

Nigeria is indeed a country of boundless absurdities, most of which were "invented" and found their way to the fore just after the exit of PDP which "ruled" the country for sixteen years uninterrupted.

The oddity in the attitude of the average political commentator we see today, especially from those who pitched their tent with PDP in the last election, stem more from the fact they are predominantly Christians and can't seem to stomach the thought of being led by a Muslim.

Their party leadership spared no expense in sowing the seed of religious intolerance in the hearts of Nigerians, through their dogged sponsorship of inflammable propaganda, the fruits of which we are reaping today in no small measure.

Yesterday, it was reported the Central Bank will be subsidising the dollar for intending Hajj pilgrims, and as expected, mixed, mostly negative, reactions have trailed the announcement and as expected, those people who've sworn to ensure the president is seen by all as a religious bigot have seized the opportunity to spread their propaganda throughout print and electronic media.

Time and again, we have seen that no sooner do they launch the attacks than history comes to the rescue of Mr President.

One could fault the President on a whole lot of fronts, why not. He's a mare mortal and as such must have his own imperfections. But one thing you certainly can't call the president is "religious bigot".

Here are but a few events in the past that shed light on exactly who the religious bigot is between mr President and his accusers:

1. FG Earmarks $11million for Christian pilgrims.

The Federal Government has approved $11 million personal travelling allowance at a
subsidized exchange rate of N160 per dollar
for 13,800 persons participating in this year’s
Christian pilgrimage.

This was disclosed by the Central Bank of
Nigeria, CBN, yesterday, in a circular entitled
Year 2015 Christian Pilgrima-ge: Purchase of
Pilgrims Travelling Allowance .

It said: “The Federal Government has
approved the purchase of a maximum of
$1000 at concessionary rate of N160 to the
dollar by each intending pilgrim as personal
travel allowance.

“Consequently each pilgrim travelling to Israel
is entitled to maximum of $750, while those
going to Israel/Rome or Greece are entitled to
a maximum of $1000.”

www.vanguardngr.com/2015/10/fg-approves-11m-for-christian-pilgrims/

This was done less than a year ago. An interesting part is that the maximum amount entitled to each pilgrim is the same as what we have today- $1000 and at a lower rate of N160/dollar since the naira had more value then as opposed of N197/dollar today!!

The economy wasn't really faring any better then.

Pray tell, where were the voices of these later day activists/economists when this happened??!!

2. Buhari Cancels Govt Delegation to Hajj

ABUJA - In his bid to cut cost of governments, President Mohammadu Buhari has announced that there would be no federal
government delegation for this year's hajj in
Saudi Arabia.

He however stated that the government shall
play its traditional roles of providing consular,
medical and security services to Nigerian
pilgrims.

With the decision, the government is expected to save about $1 million and N30m in local expenses.

www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/buhari-cancels-govt-delegation-to-hajj-to-save-1m/

Again, to show his "extreme love for Muslims and his disdain for Christians", mr President shelved plans to send a FG delegation to Hajj 2015. We didn't see "Christians" take over cyberspace to "condemn" this extreme demonstration of bigotry by the president.

Today, he's done for Muslims what he did for Christians and social media has literally been set on fire!!

3. FG Approves 65% Tax Waiver For Christian Pilgrims.

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), Rev. Tor Uja says that the Federal Government has approved a 65 per cent tax waiver for pilgrims.

Uja made this known when the chaplaincy committee of the National Christian Centre
paid him a courtesy visit on Monday in Abuja.

He said that the waiver would go a long way to reduce the cost of the October /December pilgrimage.

www.nigeriannewspapers.today/2016/08/03/fg-approves-65-tax-waiver-for-christian-pilgrims/

This was done earlier this year under this grim economic atmosphere, yet we never heard as much as a whistle from nobody!!

These and many more instances where the FG under President M. Buhari intervened to make things a lot easier for Christian pilgrims never became major talking points- but as soon as anything is done by the president that seem to favour Muslims, who are no less citizens of this country than Christians, it becomes a huge problem- no thanks to religious bigots who think themselves Christians!

I have been going to church since I was 3 and been listening to pastors, reverend, bishops, etc, preach the word- never a day have I heard any of them extol hate or bigotry as a virtue! Nowhere in the Bible have I read such (not that I always read the bible anyway).

Where then did these Nigerian "christians" propagating this brand of "christianity" where Muslims MUST be hated get their doctrine- PDP constitution??

Myself and many other well meaning Nigerians have been advocating that government completely hands of sponsorship of pilgrimage. Man's relationship with God is their private business and must be treated as such. If one chooses to visit Mecca or Jerusalem or the Bohemian Groove or Okija Shrine to commune with their God, let them sort their expenses out themselves!! If they can't bear the cost, they should sit asses at home and pray- God is omnipresent and can hear them from wherever whenever.

PDP "apologised" for their toxic brand of politics the other day- it would do Nigeria a whole lot of good if the party called her members and supporters to order as that "apology" appears not to have registered on their minds. Heating up the polity with religion does no one no good, certainly not a party that seeks to return to the center in 3years time.

Had the constituent units of the current governing party conducted themselves in this manner when they were the major opposition parties, imagine what the country would have looked like today.

When you set the entire country ablaze, when then would be left to rule over afterwards, her ashes??

Let a word be enough for the wise.

Thank you.

Lalasticlala, Seun, Mynd44, I plead that this be taken to the fp for the purpose of fairness.

Thanks.


Cc: Modath, Beremx, Egift, Midolian, Seunmsg...

This is very true. As an APC member I support what you're saying.

bolaino:
This is very true. As an APC member I support what you're saying.

We need to get the facts right and set the records straight lest genuinely ignorant people are mislead by PDP's divisive propaganda.

Still waiting on you Lalasticlala.

Nigeria is in trouble, my brother...

The hypocrisy in these people, if put together is enough to destroy the country. If Buhari meets with one muslim cleric, it is 'Islamization in progress' ...and if with 5000 bishops, its a normal thing to do cos Nigeria needs prayers. SMH

I believe hypocrisy is more of Nigeria's problem than corruption.

Well written. God is protecting PMB. The haters love to castigate and slander him all the time, but the president if focused to make Nigeria a better place. God bless PMB...carryon sir, Majority of us are with you.

@progressive01 its good to see that you supported your argument with facts but I still don't think Mr president did the right thing,.

Nigerian economy is already in recession spending such money on pilgrims( christians and muslims)will not help it but rather worsen it

A lot of businesses have closed down because of scarcity and increase in dollar, making this dollars available at this rate given to this pilgrims will do a lot of good to this businesses

Resently the Nigeria Olympics team are complaining of lack of govt support , am not saying giving them money will improve the economy but it would have made more sense than giving it to pilgrims cause I believe pilgrimage expenses should fully come from those who are interested in embarking in it.

midolian:
Nigeria is in trouble, my brother...

If you ask me I'd rather the government indefinitely suspends sponsorship of these religious expeditions. Pilgrimage doesn't make any country better, neither does it make one a better Christian or Muslim.

cbn has the right to make adverticement for themselfs....

it seems this hajj things brings many moneeeeeeéy.....

none of us is realy patronizing cbn...we all love the black-market soooteyy,we gave them monopoly over our money than patronizing cbn...

anybody that thinks what cbn is doing to survive is wrong,can go hug an iroko tree..!!!!...

Well outlined truism.

The fact is that Jonathanians have still not gotten over their hero's defeat and are acting like bulls in a China shop in the name of being in opposition.

The vile hypocrisy that has become the hallmark of their politicking only underlines their desperation to demonize the President even if it means appearing like extremist bigots with the memory capacity of a tse-tse fly.

You cannot squeeze oil out of a block of ice. It's not surprising that PDP's band of minions have become shameless intolerant religious bigots considering the history of the party. This was the same party that said Osibanjo owned 5000 churches while campaigning in the North so northerners wouldn't vote for the APC, while also calling the same party an Islamic party while campaigning in the South. Religious bigotry and borderline extremism is in their DNA.

I'm also not in support of state sponsored pilgrimages for similar reasons, and the culture it has become should be stopped, especially considering the paucity of funds that Nigeria suffers, however with that said, the furore that has been generated by bigoted wailers smacks of sheer hypocrisy and should be ignored in the understanding that they are going through a very difficult and painful period, climaxed by their defeated hero's recent instruction that they should embrace Sherriff the boko sponsor as their Chairman.

Wailers need hugs right now, not smacks.

Progressive01:
If you ask me I'd rather the government indefinitely suspends sponsorship of these religious expeditions. Pilgrimage doesn't make any country better, neither does it make one a better Christian or Muslim.

you dont think progressiv.....

how many people do hajj??...do you know??...

cbn knows the numbers.....

cbn is the central bank of nigeria...remember??..

do you realy believe a central bank will give up just like that??....keep your black-market-bank...

cbn doesnt give a shi shi.......you will learn the hard way when 1 dollar=900 nairas.....

free market my left foot.....

the goverment is trying to help every nigerian in the world and you are cursing them the ol time out...

tahhhhh.....

egoistic imbeciles....

I hated it when the christian pilgrims got concession, i hate it now that muslims are getting theirs... "It's MISPLACED priorities"


Manufacturer association of Nigeria's needs, Medical and Education aren't getting treated but we are channeling scarce forex to subsidize what is otherwise personal endeavour... We are still playing, we aren't even third world..

We are more religious than Vatican city and Mecca but we are worse off using any indices as yardstick..in a nutshell, we are closer to hell than they are....

I made a remark to beremx today about misinformation, and how some quarters and their foot soldiers have made it their life's work to sustain it.. Seems there is a concerted effort to misinform the public if and when there is nothing in the public domain to discredit the PRESIDENT"....

Skirting around libel/slander is immaterial, the army of braying donkeys they cater to don't know, won't research , will never submit themselves to separating the wheat from the chaff and the height of it is that when whatever narrative they are pushing is beat down, they effortlessly switch to another inanity...

I watched with amazement as Aisha Buhari's US Trip was skillfully changed from she can't set foot on American soil to she's carrying an Hermes Croc Birkin, you gotta doff ya hat to such quick volte face..

The bag isn't even Hermes!!

Same way Fayose linked whatever Aisha Buhari that was involved in the scandal to Harliburton when US congressman William Jefferson's involvement was with iGATE, what's beyond baffling is that so called trusted media houses and blogs have never even done their own research and till today are still mired in the confusion.....

MO dey hia dey siddon look, God bless us ALL..

modath:


I hated it when the christian pilgrims got concession, i hate it now that muslims are getting theirs... It's misplacement of priorities, Manufacturer association of Nigeria's needs aren't even getting 10% of their requirements, Medical and Education Form A aren't getting treated but we are channeling scarce forex to subsidize what is otherwise a personal endeavour... We are still playing, we aren't even third world, we are

We are more religious than Vatican city and Mecca but we are worse off using any indices as yardstick..in a nutshell, we are closer to hell than they are....

I made a remark to beremx today about misinformation, and how some quarters have made it their life's work to sustain it.. Seems there is a concerted effort to misinform the public if and when there is nothing in the public domain to discredit the president..

The proponents of this and their foot soldiers are not going to change anytime soon..

Skirting around libel/slander is immaterial, the army of braying donkeys don't know, won't research , will never submit themselves to separating the wheat from the chaff and the height of it is that when whatever narrative they are pushing is beat down, they effortlessly switch to another inanity...

I watched with amazement as Aisha Buhari's US Trip was skillfully changed from she can't set foot on American soil to she's carrying an Hermes Croc Birkin, you gotta doff ya hat to such quick volte face..

The bag isn't even Hermes!!

Same way Fayose linked whatever Aisha Buhari that was involved in the scandal to Harliburton when US congressman William Jefferson's involvement was with iGATE, what's beyond baffling is that so called trusted media houses and blogs have never even done their own research and till today are still mired in the confusion.....

MO dey hia dey siddon look, God bless us ALL..

missy..you dont get it....this is business...cbn is trying to bind customers to demselves...they are working like a company.......

all nigerians should be trading only with cbn anyways!!!!...

dont forget...the nigerian goverment has the right to stop all parallel markets anytime.........you love free money tooo much....

You are very on point OP, but I don't think the ongoing criticism is from "Christians who can't seem to stomach the thought of being led by a Muslim". The criticism is political and it is coming from the usual section of the country who have always criticised every decision of the PMB administration. That is why we call them wailers because they will wail about everything till 2019.

PMB approved similar gesture for christians going on pilgrimage and I don't see why muslims going on similar pilgrimage should not enjoy the same benefit. Wailers will always wail, by tomorrow, they will move on to another wailing topic.

seunmsg:
You are very on point OP, but I don't think the ongoing criticism is from "Christians who can't seem to stomach the thought of being led by a Muslim". The criticism is political and it is coming from the usual section of the country who have always criticised every decision of the PMB administration. That is why we call them wailers because they will wail about everything till 2019.

PMB approved similar gesture for christians going on pilgrimage and I don't see why muslims going on similar pilgrimage should not enjoy the same benefit. Wailers will always wail, by tomorrow, they will move on to another wailing topic.

hmmm...the wailing wall of the south-yeast...

tsdarkside:


missy..you dont get it....this is business...cbn is trying to bind customers to demselves...they are working like a company.......

all nigerians should be trading only with cbn anyways!!!!...

dont forget...the nigerian goverment has the right to stop all parallel markets anytime.........you love free money tooo much....

I swear i don't get it, please "break" it down in plain English, especially the "free money" part, thank you..

modath:


I swear i don't get it, please "break" it down in plain English, especially the "free money" part, thank you..

look if cbn says okay,we exchange 1dollar for 50nairas nationwide,would you agree??...

you are the one driving the price of the dollar up by not cooperating with cbn....!!!!

tsdarkside:


missy..you dont get it....this is business...cbn is trying to bind customers to demselves...they are working like a company.......

all nigerians should be trading only with cbn anyways!!!!...

dont forget...the nigerian goverment has the right to stop all parallel markets anytime.........you love free money tooo much....

CBN does not have the capacity to meet the foreign exchange needs of all Nigerians (individual and corporate) so, they can not really stop the parallel market from operating. This is not about business but governments concession to ensure fairness. Christians got theirs, muslims are getting theirs, fair is fair.

iamblisz:
@progressive01 its good to see that you supported your argument with facts but I still don't think Mr president did the right thing,.

Nigerian economy is already in recession spending such money on pilgrims( christians and muslims)will not help it but rather worsen it

A lot of businesses have closed down because of scarcity and increase in dollar, making this dollars available at this rate given to this pilgrims will do a lot of good to this businesses

Resently the Nigeria Olympics team are complaining of lack of govt support , am not saying giving them money will improve the economy but it would have made more sense than giving it to pilgrims cause I believe pilgrimage expenses should fully come from those who are interested in embarking in it.

If you understood the post well, you'd see I didn't at any point support the action- as a matter of fact, let me state it for the umpteenth time- I am totally against government sponsorship of pilgrimages whether in recession or when the economy is booming!

What I've got problem is where these people making so much noise were when those evidences I presented happened. Are they against the sponsorship simply because it involves muslims or because they care so much about the economy?? Remember, these are the same people that support NDA's dream of "grounding" our economy!! Where, you might ask, did they suddenly find their "patriotism"??

Would their submissions have been the same had this involved Christian pilgrims??

That is the problem here.

tsdarkside:


look if cbn says okay,we exchange 1dollar for 50nairas nationwide,would you agree??...

you are the one driving the price of the dollar up by not cooperating with cbn....!!!!

Dollar to 50 naira, are we talking economics or cartoon?

You are intent on trolling, i don't have the patience nor the nerve for long back and forth, bye......

modath:


I swear i don't get it, please "break" it down in plain English, especially the "free money" part, thank you..

As in ehn! The dude is just confusing me as well- why I couldn't respond to him.

fulanmafia:
Well outlined truism.

The fact is that Jonathanians have still not gotten over their hero's defeat and are acting like bulls in a China shop in the name of being in opposition.

The vile hypocrisy that has become the hallmark of their politicking only underlines their desperation to demonize the President even if it means appearing like extremist bigots with the memory capacity of a tse-tse fly.

You cannot squeeze oil out of a block of ice. It's not surprising that PDP's band of minions have become shameless intolerant religious bigots considering the history of the party. This was the same party that said Osibanjo owned 5000 churches while campaigning in the North so northerners wouldn't vote for the APC, while also calling the same party an Islamic party while campaigning in the South. Religious bigotry and borderline extremism is in their DNA.

I'm also not in support of state sponsored pilgrimages for similar reasons, and the culture it has become should be stopped, especially considering the paucity of funds that Nigeria suffers, however with that said, the furore that has been generated by bigoted wailers smacks of sheer hypocrisy and should be ignored in the understanding that they are going through a very difficult and painful period, climaxed by their defeated hero's recent instruction that they should embrace Sherriff the boko sponsor as their Chairman.

Wailers need hugs right now, not smacks.

You are only found where bigotry is a wage . I know you have killed before

seunmsg:


CBN does not have the capacity to meet the foreign exchange needs of all Nigerians (individual and corporate) so, they can not really stop the parallel market from operating. This is not about business but governments concession to ensure fairness. Christians got theirs, muslims are getting theirs, fair is fair.

their you are wrong....parallel market is illegal in any nation in the world....remember in 1990 we still called them black-market...

you are giving yourself a bloody nose by been soooo greedy.....i said your naira is worthless internationaly without goverment intervening....

the free market will give you a bloody nose..walahi...your buy and sell power is nothing compared with the rest of the world...

you are selling ugus for 3million dollars others are selling war ships for 300million at a time...

you are nothing....

isbish:
Well written. God is protecting PMB. The haters love to castigate and slander him all the time, but the president if focused to make Nigeria a better place. God bless PMB...carryon sir, Majority of us are with you.

That's the major key, and the main reason I comment less often and react less to the iPods tantrums lately.

The simple and cerebral majority are behind PMB, the noisy minority can only moan, mutter and wail. These are the same minorities that cannot even sway an election to save their own lives.

BUHARIISCURSED:
Islam is inversely/negatively/indirectly related to ECONOMIC GROWTH/PROGRESS/DEVELOPMENT

Yet at the drop of a hat, someone like you wouldn't mind spending the rest of your life in UAE.

Smh.

Even your brothers throng there to do business on a daily basis.

Such a damn shame what religious intolerance has turned some of you people into.

fulanmafia:
Well outlined truism.

The fact is that Jonathanians have still not gotten over their hero's defeat and are acting like bulls in a China shop in the name of being in opposition.

The vile hypocrisy that has become the hallmark of their politicking only underlines their desperation to demonize the President even if it means appearing like extremist bigots with the memory capacity of a tse-tse fly.

You cannot squeeze oil out of a block of ice. It's not surprising that PDP's band of minions have become shameless intolerant religious bigots considering the history of the party. This was the same party that said Osibanjo owned 5000 churches while campaigning in the North so northerners wouldn't vote for the APC, while also calling the same party an Islamic party while campaigning in the South. Religious bigotry and borderline extremism is in their DNA.

I'm also not in support of state sponsored pilgrimages for similar reasons, and the culture it has become should be stopped, especially considering the paucity of funds that Nigeria suffers, however with that said, the furore that has been generated by bigoted wailers smacks of sheer hypocrisy and should be ignored in the understanding that they are going through a very difficult and painful period, climaxed by their defeated hero's recent instruction that they should embrace Sherriff the boko sponsor as their Chairman.

Wailers need hugs right now, not smacks.

Awesome post. Adopted!

These people preaching about the economic implication of this act were/are the same people that cheer on NDA and other economic saboteurs hell bent on grounding the economy, making sure we earn $0.00 forex!!

That alone tells any sensible observer why they are kicking against this- it is all about religious bigotry and politics and has absolutely nothing to do with their "concern" for the well-being of the country.

Nonsense.

Progressive01:
If you understood the post well, you'd see I didn't at any point support the action- as a matter of time, let me state it for the umpteenth time- I am totally against government sponsorship of pilgrimages whether in recession or when the economy is booming!

What I've got problem is where these people making so much noise were when those evidences I presented happened. Are they against the sponsorship simply because it involves muslims or because they care so much about the economy?? Remember, these are the same people that support NDA's dream of "grounding" our economy!! Where, you might ask, did they suddenly find their "patriotism"??

Would their submissions have been the same had this involved Christian pilgrims??

That is the problem here.

Don't turn this issue into a sectarian one ..where did anyone mention Islam.
All we are saying is that the govt has once more proven that it only make poor economic decision by going on to subsidizing forex for a religious excursion . As usual you pay per post agent are bent on turning the narrative into a sectarian one.

All of You deceiving PMB and trying to waste our votes mark my words our votes that have been betrayed by PMB will surely be his downfall .

Progressive01:
As in ehn! The dude is just confusing me as well- why I couldn't respond to him.

He is just trolling... I don waka pass!!



@ idupaul ,

Name calling are we? Did you object when christians got concession? And yes, the angst & uproar is cos it's Buhari and hajj not because it's misplacement of priorities. ... no one is in any doubt.... we all know ourselves in this country..

Progressive01:
Yet at the drop of a hat, someone like you wouldn't mind spending the rest of your life in UAE.

Smh.

Even your brothers throng there to do business on a daily basis.

Such a damn shame what religious intolerance has turned some of you people into.

omenka, you should address that message above to yourself. One of the most controversial and religious bigot ever existing on Nairaland today is thee, I have great muslim friends and i respect them well. My best female friend is a muslim and she is so proud and happy to be my friend cause we flow wella, I see loads of anti-muslim quotes on facebook and i ignore them all because i dont want to hurt my muslim friends. The other day, my brother wrote on his facebook wall on his visit to illy city that 3 mosques were shouting that morning and they were disturbing him, i had to quickly call him to put down that post and warned him that he has loads of muslim friends and that is a total disrespect to his friends. I read your comments on any fulani thread and i watch you 'dancing' over the thread, instead of condemning the act, you go about condemning those killed. You really need to change, when you start seeing wrongs with the killings of innocent people by the fulani terrorists, then we can start from there. ****.

As for the UAE shiit you wrote up there, tell them to help the syrians/yemenis and many arab nations at war, instead of showing gold here and there. Mecca/medina should be a place of refuge since its a holy land .

*SHALOM CUM SALAAM

Those wailers are just hateful. Nothing about them is rational.

A wailer has no other talent that to cry!