Flowerbud News/ The Niger Christian Voice in Politics and Governance (NCVIPG), has decried the unfair treatment meted at Christians aspirants in the ongoing political party primaries across the state.
The Coordinator of the association, Habila Diko, made this known while briefing newsmen at the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Secretariat on Wednesday in Minna.
“We want to draw the attention of the Niger Governor, Muhammad Bago, and the APC leadership to the unfair treatment meted at Christian aspirants vying for various positions at the ongoing party primaries.
“We have noted with great concern the deliberate and systemic exclusion of Christian aspirants under the guise of consensus and zoning. Thereby leaving Christians with no representation in the state vying for various positions.
“For the records, there are fillers that Christian aspirants vying for the State Assembly are currently being pressurised to withdraw or step down. We strongly condemn this action resulting from zoning or consensus.”
Diko therefore, called on the party leadership to clear its name as it was being peddled that they were the people behind the call for Christian aspirants to step down or be screened out.
This, he claimed they intended to do, by reviewing and correcting the outcome of the primaries where genuine complaints and irregularities had been raised for fairness, equity and justice.
He also used the opportunity to appeal to the governor to reconsider this disturbing development in the interest of equity, peace and balanced political representation.
“This is because systemically, this current act of consensus and zoning has led to the exclusion of Christian aspirants.
“Furthermore, we want to use this medium to call on other political parties in the state not to toll this same line or undermine Christian aspirants vying for positions but ensure fairness and total inclusion.”
The Coordinator also used the opportunity to appreciate the governor for his move to institutionalise zoning by pushing to gazette the zoning system to ensure power rotates among all the twenty five Local Government Areas.
This move according to the governor, was aimed to propose a maximum of eight years for any area that benefited from the arrangement.
The aim was also to prevent the dominance of single areas and ensure fair representation across the state.
In his remarks, the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Musa Sarkinkaji, stated that the party was a national party and that as such, it doesn’t discriminate against any religion, tribal or geographical affiliation.
He stated further that Politics was not about religion, ethnicity or tribe but simply about number, which is why it’s a game of number.
“So, Niger in the first place, it’s not a Muslim state neither is it a Christian state.
“So, for an individual, a group or an association to claim that the party and its leadership are sidelining them from getting the party’s ticket is not true. They are just fabrications.
“So, as far as we are concerned, we don’t deny anybody from getting what she or he wants in the party. It’s all about the most popular and credible aspirants that we are sure can defeat any opposition.”
He added that in APC there was no need to segregate since the party was not formed based on any personalities or religious inclination that the association claimed.
NAN