The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has told Christian clerics that he will not Islamise the nation.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday, Buhari said this during a meeting with Catholic bishops at the Pope John Paul Centre in Abuja.
Buhari said he would always put Nigeria first if elected into office, adding that when he ruled Nigeria between December 1983 and August 1985, he did not impose Islam on any individual.
He said having served in the military, he had been posted to several parts of the country and served alongside people of different religions and tribes.
He said the Peoples Democratic Party had succeeded in misrepresenting him to the Christian community because they could not sell their candidate.
He said, “I would like to solemnly declare that in spite of what our detractors say, I am not a religious fanatic of any sort and I have never been. In all my life, I have never supported extremism of any kind, and nowhere in my record of service to this nation can this false toga political opponents have tried so hard to put on me, be substantiated. Indeed, it is very unfortunate and I feel extremely sad that I have to give this type of assurance.
“My background is in the army, and there is no doubt that the military is the most integrated pan-Nigerian institution. And even today, the military is one of the institutions that represents the pride of our nation’s possibilities in unity.
“Compatriots from every corner of this country come together, work and live together, entrust their lives to each other and integrate their families. It is a military where many of my dearest friends from all faith and parts of the country, lost their lives defending the unity of our nation. That was the military I served in, and in that military it was impossible to be a bigot.”
He said in governance, competence should always come before religion and that was why as head of state, he appointed 11 Christians as governors out of the 19 states.
He said religion comes from personal conviction and should never be used to gain political advantage.
He noted that his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, was not only a lawyer but a senior pastor.
He said, “For me, the issue of religion is, and should always, be a matter of personal conviction. This personal conviction approach to religion has defined my work and interactions all my life, including my tenure in office as military Head of State.
“The religion of all those I worked with was never a factor in their progress or in what happened to them. All that mattered then, and should still matter today, are competence, integrity and readiness to be fair to all.
“I was recently informed that we had a balanced cabinet with key positions such as Finance, Energy and Defence occupied by Christians. In addition, 11 of the 19 governors I appointed were Christians. My most memorable recollections of subordinate service was under Christian bosses, the finest our country had then, and among the most respected today. Indeed one of the best appraisals I received in the course of my military career was from General T.Y Danjuma.

Ok.
BTW - abeg nigerians, lets pray for ds our country. Especially ds "6weeks period"

you can't islamize Nigeria buhari, even if you wanted to you will die trying.

OP, you heading is very misleading and provoking . It gives the impression that if he wanted to,he could. It is not an optional issue. NOBODY can Islamize Nigeria. NOBODY can Christianize Nigeria.

Allureoftheseas:
you can't islamize Nigeria buhari, even if you wanted to you will die trying.

The OP is just being stupi*d with his title.

Who is worrying? Islamize Africa if God permits. Infact islamize the Universe and we all wait for God's reaction. Even your talking is pompous. You talk as if the electorates and your shadow VP are your underlines. God hates the proud.

Once again truth has dispelled all falsehood peddled by the those who have allowed their savage greed get hold of their sense of reasoning.

Orunto:
Who is worrying? Islamize Africa if God permits. Infact islamize the Universe and we all wait for God's reaction. Even your talking is pompous. You talk as if the electorates and your shadow VP are your underlines. God hates the proud.

Is he more proud than imPatience Jonathan that calls everyone her child even her mother's age mates. Rotimi Amechi is her son, Nyesom Wike is her son. Godswill Akpabio is her son. All state governors and their wives are her sons and daughters even Jonah Jang who is older than imPatience Jonathan's mother.

Well, maybe because she has no biological children (according to rumour mongers), that is why she has adopted everyone as children.

I have not forgotten, "I will not contest again"..... kontinu

[size=14pt]MB,it's too late in the day to recant your well known stance and wishful plot to see sharia implemented all over Nigeria.

At this rate,I'm sure you can even eat shi.t if the APCheat propagandists/PR team tell you it will help launder your failed,tyrannical,murderous,forging,thieving,lying and pretentious image

Sai NO to Buhari

We need an honest,caring,young president that knows and understands present day realities and is working to truly fix Nigeria.

That man is Goodluck Ebele Jonathan[/size]

Let whoever wins take his rightful position in Aso Rock. Whatever be the case do not help to heat up the polity. This politicians we always clamour for dont have our interest at heart. When the violence start, they and their children will flee to fortification while the military men will be wasting the lives of Nigerians. Recall the Nigerian civil war, the principal actors lived to ripe age. Gowon is almost 80 and Ojukwu died at the ripe age of 78 leaving inheritance for his children but do not forget that 3 million people lost their lives on both sides. Their death was in vain as the politicians reconcilled and many are now great friends and they are still ruling us. Let us be wise, vote for your candidate and move on. We have never voted anyone that will please us for even a term, before the tenure ends we will start screaming and shouting for another. Politicians are not your messiah. We are the ones to drop our selfishness, materialism, hatred, insensitivity and wickedness towards another. Our division is greatly helping their own agenda. As long as we are divided we will always be at the loosing end. What they owe us is infrastructures, security and proper resource control. It is not theirs to help us define our heritage, an Hausa man is not better than all the other 250 tribes and vice versa. We are first human before we recognise any tribe or nation what we owe each other is love. We are not different in anyway except our mindset. It is not theirs to help us discover religion, it is supposed to be between us and our God. Religion is a personal thing, as long as it works for us. God is the judge not us or them. Please keep yourselves safe, you too can rule one day.

Allureoftheseas:
you can't islamize Nigeria buhari, even if you wanted to you will die trying.

Then why the fuzz; dat he will islamize nigeria. The man clear the air and u r speaking gibrishh