Christians in the South-east under the aegis of Christians Council of Nigeria (CCN) have raised the alarm that the proposed Islamic bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has some Al Qaeda connections and Sharia rules guiding it.
The Christian group, led by its Chairman and Anglican Bishop of Enugu, Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma; Vice Chairman, Rev. (Dr.) Totty Onoh; Secretary, Very Rev. Ekpe; Methodist Archbishop, Most Rev. Samuel Uche; Rev. James Igwilo; Women Leader, Mrs Ego Kalu; Rev. Canon Jonathan Agbo and Rev. J. N. Ajuzie disclosed this at a press conference yesterday in Enugu and, therefore, called on President Goodluck Jonathan to stop the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, on the bid.
The clerics reminded Jonathan that it would be dangerous to allow a religious bank in a secular state such as Nigeria, saying that; “Nigeria will be sitting on a keg of gun powder because this Islamic banking will be used to fuel terrorism.”
Explaining further, the group said: “It is going to be a very serious way of equipping and financing people who will destabilize this country because they don’t want this leadership. This is why we are saying it must not come.”
They suggested that the government should instead float a non-interest bank for every body in the country, but not one belonging to a particular religion.
“We feel as a church that this Islamic bank should not be encouraged and Sanusi should stop being fanatical about it. This bank is having a religious connotation and inasmuch as we support non-interest banking, it should not have a religious attachment; so, they should understand the Christians.
“If it is going to have religious attachment like Islamic bank, then we will demand for Christian bank, African traditional bank and that will bring division and trouble for Nigeria. So, if Sanusi and the other people in Islam have the interest and unity of this country they should decide right now to mellow down and forget about this Islamic banking, unless there is an ulterior motive behind it for which should be a condition for this country to be a member of the Organisation of Islamic Council.
“We said we cannot belong to this council and Nigeria is a secular nation and it can never be smuggled into the Organisation of Islamic Council.
“Again, if Sanusi cannot think of the unity of this nation, he should resign and leave this country alone because this is part of the problems they want to cause to make the country ungovernable for the incumbent president who is a Christian.
“Again, the Act that established the Central Bank does not allow a religious bank to operate unless Sanusi wants to let us know that he can do and undo things. The president should call him to order and caution him, the president cannot afford to be docile on this issue,” the group warned.
They argued that if the Federal Government had in the past refused to register some higher institutions because they bore Christian names why is it now allowing a bank with a religious attachment.
“If the Federal Government refused religious names attached to universities why should it now allow it for a bank, this is selective negligence. We feel unhappy about it; they refused Christian names for our institutions during NUC registration. So, why are you now giving religious name to a bank? This is a plan to Islamize the country,” they believed.
They also condemned attacks by the Boko Haram, saying that innocent citizens have lost their lives even when they were not involved in politics.
They accused northern leaders who lost in the last general elections of using Boko Haram to destabilize the country in disguise.
“They should know that this nation does not solely belong to them, this nation belongs to all of us, an election has been conducted, free and fair as judged by people outside this country and we are satisfied; so, they should give Jonathan the chance to govern as the Lord leads him and allow peace to reign,” the clerics said.
They also dismissed the amnesty sought for the Boko Haram sect, saying that their agitation was not similar to those of the Niger Delta militants.
“Theirs cannot be the same as that of the Niger Delta militants because the militants had a reason because of the oil resource they said was not equally shared. So, if they have any problem in the North for which the Boko Haram is protesting, let them come out in a decent way and let there be dialogue with the Federal Government for them to settle than using this violent way of killing innocent souls,” they said.
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