Buhari Receives Bible; Says He Will Not Islamise Nigeria

APC Presidential candidate,Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari two days ago, for a second day running, pleaded with the Christian community to accept his candidacy, dismissing claims that he is a Muslim fanatic.
He pledged to protect all Nigerians if he wins the March 28 presidential poll. He spoke when he met the Northern Christians leaders Eagle-eyes Forum.

Buhari had on Wednesday met with the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) and promised to protect Nigerians of all faith.Addressing the pastors who were 500 in number Buhari said he feels irritated by the toga of a religious bigot being cladded on him.

He recalled that he had related well with his colleagues in the military when he was in service wondering how people came about the claim that he is fanatical about religion.

Buhari who was given a bible gift 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.”

In his short speech, APC vice presidential candidate, Prof Femi Osinbajo argued that the recourse to religion was PDP’s strategy to deceive the electorate. He insisted that the main issue should be how to address the poverty in the country.

The Christians, under the aegis of the Northern Christian Leaders Eagle-Eye Forum, led by Pastor Aminchi Habu, during the endorsement, presented Buhari with a copy of the Holy Bible.

In an interview shortly after, Buhari said, “This is not the first time I am accepting Holy Bible publicly; this is not the first time. It is not even the second or third time. All these problems people are making because of religion are just of recent time and dimension. We, both Christians and Muslims, have been leading this country and there was no religious problem.

“It is just now that somebody is creating these problems for us. I hope God will look after it. I told you this is not the second or third time I will be accepting Bible. This one (acceptance) is special because of the leadership of the church that made the presentation, that is the only difference. Otherwise, I do receive Bibles, they are in my libraries.”

He promised Nigerians that if given the opportunity to serve the country again he would not promote the religious agenda of anyone.

Buhari, who used the opportunity to clear the air on some of the allegations against him on religious matter, told the gathering that though a practising Muslim, he never belonged nor shared the views of any extremist group.

He said, “Let me state this categorically, that I, Muhammadu Buhari, as an individual, and as president of this great country by the grace of God, given the opportunity to serve, have no personal religious agenda. And I will not entertain, consider or promote the religious agenda of anyone. I will not condone any initiative that seeks to promote one religion over the other. Neither I, nor my party, or any member of my team has any desire or plan to Islamise or Christianise Nigeria or support anyone with such intention.

“Although I am a practising Muslim and I have been so all my life but I have never belonged to, nor shared the views of, any extremist group. I am not even a cleric. I believe that religion is personal and private.”

Leader of the Forum, Pastor Aminchi Habu, said the forum since 2003, have been the pillars of propagating a lot of negative fabrication against Buhari and have help past administrations by doing a lot of things, saying what the country is passing through today make them to make a u-turn and support Buhari.“The forum have realized that there is something inside General Buhari, you know when your destiny is meant to shine some people would be pulling you down but what God said it shall be, it shall definitely be. Today in this country south, west, east, north by the grace of God with the support of everyone, we are calling the whole Christians to come en mass as we are declaring total support for General Buhari.

He said as Christians, they know that they have offended General Buhari in the past and asked that he should forgive them for the wrong they made.