[Govs causing disunity, underdevelopment, says northern CAN]
------------

MEMBERS of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have accused northern leaders of allegedly causing disunity among the people, even as they continue to promote underdevelopment of the region.

Northern CAN specifically lampooned the chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum and Niger State Governor, Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu, for presiding over a divided house in the North.

The Northern CAN’s Publicity Secretary, Elder Sunday Oibe, in an interview with The Guardian in Kaduna, said there could never be unity in the North when leaders like the Niger State governor openly discriminate against Christians.

He described the claim of the governor, who recently alleged that there were plots to cause disunity among northerners ahead of the 2015 general elections as a farce, pointing out that Aliyu and some northern leaders were the very people working against the unity of the North.

According to Oibe, the governor, who has suddenly become the apostle of northern unity, is the very person that is discriminating against Christians in Niger State specifically.

“Before Aliyu became the governor of Niger State, there used to be a Christian as deputy governor. But immediately he became governor, he picked a Muslim as his deputy and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly is a Muslim, in spite of the fact there is a large number of Christian population in the state.

“Yet, the governor does not see the need to treat them fairly and he is shamelessly preaching northern unity when he is discriminating against the Christians in his own state.

“He is the chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum who is gallivanting and talking about northern unity, forgetting that he is one of those working against the unity of the area.

“Let them go and find out how the late Premier of the defunct Northern Region, Sardauna of Sokoto, worked together with people like the late Sunday Awoniyi, late Ambassador Jolly Tanko Yusuf and several other Christians with their religious and political differences”, Oibe said.

Oibe noted further that “in Kaduna State alone, we have about 53 different ethnic groups in the southern part of the state and Hausa/Fulani are just two tribes, yet we have a vice President who is a Muslim and majority of his appointees are Hausa/Fulani Muslims.

The CAN spokesman stressed further that “how can people be talking about the spirit of northern unity with this glaring discrimination we see everywhere in the North? I believe that President Goodluck Jonathan now knows better and nobody can deceive or mislead him in any way”