Ahead of the 2027 general elections, an Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has said that any attempt to impose a Christian as governor of Lagos State would be against the rules of fairness, equity, inclusivity and participatory democracy.
The organisation said that by 2027, Christians would complete three consecutive three terms as governors, adding that it should be the turn of Muslims to produce a governor by 2027.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, a Christian, was elected governor in 2015 but was not re-elected in 2019 after completing his first tenure. He was succeeded by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, another Christian, who would be completing his second term in 2027.
The group’s Executive Director and Founder, Professor Ishaq Akintola, in a statement said that Muslims in the state are already setting machinery in motion to ensure that a Muslim emerges as governor in 2027.
He pointed out that in a metropolitan and multi-religious state like Lagos, it is only natural that Muslims make the demand at this point in time, adding that the Christians in the state made a similar demand in 2013 for a Christian to be governor.
Akintola stated that the issue of competence should not be used to deny Muslims of their turn to produce the next governor of the state. According to him, competence abounds everywhere.
“Any attempt to impose a Christian governor on Lagos for a third time will break the rules of fairness, equity, inclusivity and participatory democracy. It will also be an encroachment on Allah-given fundamental rights of Lagos Muslims to participate in all aspects of governance and to exercise their civils rights to vote and be voted for,” Akintola said.
“Nobody should come around this time ventilating the gospel of competence, the pre-eminence of skill or the priority of talent. They are mere smokescreens designed to hoodwink the public. Competence abounds everywhere. Nigerians, and indeed Muslims, are highly skilled.
“No section of Nigeria suffers from any desertification of competence. Muslims are talented just as Christians are skilled. Competent people can be found in the North, West and East. It is those in power who should sniff around well enough to locate competent Nigerians. They should not concentrate on one religious group or sector.
“It is an insult to the collective intelligence of Nigerian Muslims to give appointments to Christians only with the excuse that you have given those appointments to competent people. Let’s not repeat that again please. It is nauseating.
“It depends on where you looked. It reflects the direction where you spread your tentacles. To conduct a fair, objective and balanced search, leaders must extend their dragnets to both Muslim and Christian individuals, professionals and communities. That is fairness. Searches must be conscious of the need for inclusiveness. So must the position of state governors.”
He urged Christians to support a Muslim to emerge as the next governor of the state, saying “The Christians must therefore step aside for their Muslim counterparts in Lagos by 2027 even if Ambode and Sanwo-Olu have given helicopters to every single Lagosian, daily lunch tickets at Sheraton to every civil servant and free train and bus rides at all times on both the red and blue lines in the state of aquatic squalor.”