PRESS RELEASE
By
COALITION OF CHRISTIAN GROUPS
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REVERSES EID-EL-FITRI PUBLIC HOLIDAY
As
Nigerians, we congratulate the Muslims in the nation on their
successful completion of the Ramadan fast in 2016. However, we are
disturbed by the apparent shoddiness and confusion the Federal
Government brought into the declaration of the Public Holiday rounding
up the Muslim religious exercise.
The Federal Government had earlier declared Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th July
as Public Holiday only to reverse itself and declare Wednesday 6th and
Thursday 7th July 2016 as Public Holiday. If this was done before
Tuesday was observed as Public Holiday, it would have been tolerable but
declaring Thursday 7th as Public Holiday in addition to Tuesday and
Wednesday is a mark of institutional unseriousness. The implication now is that three days would be work free in the week.
We
are equally appalled that the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman
Dambazau based the decision to declare Thursday as Public Holiday
on “the directive by the President General of the Nigerian Supreme
Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of
Sokoto, to the effect that the Ramadan fast continues today (Tuesday) as
a result of the non-sighting of the moon”. We are not aware that
Nigeria has transmuted into a religious theocratic state in which the
leader of a religious group issues “directive” to the Federal
Government. If the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for
Islamic Affairs confirmed Wednesday and Thursday as Public Holiday for
the Ramadan fasting, then who advised the Federal Government to declare
Tuesday a Public Holiday?
As
innocuous as some people may want to present this development, it is a
dangerous signal confirming the worrisome direction of the party that
promised Nigerians CHANGE from the lawlessness and impunity that seem to
characterize this nation. Since the inception of the Buhari
administration, it has left no one in doubt of its discriminatory
leaning towards Islam as the preferred religion in Nigeria, in violation
of Section 10 of the Constitution. The Buhari Administration needs to
be reminded again that Nigeria is not an Islamic Theocratic State that
receives “directive” from a Sultan. Nigeria is a democratic and secular
nation and preferential treatment should not be accorded any section of
the nation but all should be treated equally.
If
indeed a mistake was made in declaring Tuesday a Public Holiday that
does not warrant declaring Thursday a Public Holiday. Both the Federal
Government and leaders of Islam should have maintained the statutory two
days Public Holiday and learnt a lesson on how to not to repeat the
mistake in future. It is very embarrassing the tardiness and shoddiness
that the Buhari Administration has brought into governance in Nigeria.
Decent and respectable people are ashamed at the flagrant acts of
discrimination, nepotism, and impunity of the APC led government.
We
wish to state clearly that declaring Thursday an additional Public
Holiday is not only wrong but an insensitive approach to the management
of the economy. The economic well being of the nation should not be
sacrificed on the altar of religious fervor.
Nevertheless,
having illegally appropriated an additional day as Public Holiday
during the Eid-el-Fitri, the Federal Government and leaders of Islam
should be prepared to repay the nation the extra day during the next
Eid-el-Kabir in which we expect only one day should be approved as
Public Holiday. Nigeria should not be turned into a lawless nation. The
APC led government should call itself to order.
COALTION OF CHRISTIAN GROUPS
1. NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ELDERS FORUM (NCEF)
2. NIGERIAN CHRISTIAN GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP (NCGF)
3. THINK TANK FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST
4. CHRISTIAN LAWYERS FELLOWSHIP OF NIGERIA (CLASFON)
5. ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA (ACSIN)
6. STUDENTS CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT (SCM)
7. CHRISTIAN PROFESSIONALS FORUM (CPF)
8. MINISTERS PRAYER NETWORK
9. INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM (ICEJ)
10. NEMA
11. INTERNATIONAL PROPHETIC MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATION (IPMA) (Inc. Worldwide College of Bishops & Ministers, Africa, UK & USA)
12. INTERCESSORS WITHOUT WALLS (IWW)
13. WAILING WOMEN INTERNATIONAL
14. FULL GOSPEL BUSINESSMEN FELLOWSHIP
15. NIGERIAN FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN STUDENTS (NIFES)
16. UNIVERSITY JOINT CAMPUS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP (UJCM)
8TH JULY, 2016
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