The Chairman, Buhari Vanguard, Jasper Azuatalam, has criticized the comments made by the former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, about General Buhari on the spate of insurgency in the country.
He stated that what Nigerians were looking for was not religious bias but better governance which “people in power have failed to provide”.
He stated that former Aviation Minister lacks understanding of what General Buhari was saying when mentioning the Sharia and its application to Muslim religion in the country.
He noted that General Buhari is a Muslim and has every right to practice his religion which he said doesn’t stop the Christians from practicing their own religion, “when a Christian says I’ll work hard to spread the gospel, if you are a Christian you won’t see anything wrong with that.
“When a Muslim says I’m going to do well to spread the tentacles of Sharia which is the principle of Islam you think otherwise because you don’t understand what he is saying.”
Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, Mr. Azuatalam further explained that the comment by Buhari, saying “Nigerians and Muslims should only vote for people that will protect their own interest”, was not part of a campaign message but was in line with what Nigerians need in terms of good governance such as increased educational standards, good roads, infrastructural developments amongst others.
“When people are in power and they fail to provide these things they seem to distort facts and divert the attention” from good governance to religion, maintaining that Buhari’s statements were not part of his campaign message but reflections of “day to day way of life”.
He stressed that the issue of Boko Haram came up during former president, Olusegun Obasanjo’s era, and “Obasanjo realized that the issue was mismanaged, so he went back to Boko Haram to appease them but unfortunately the issue had escalated.
“Personally at that point I advocated that the Boko Haram should have dialogue and should be talked to (because) at that stage it was a Nigerian issue but now they are terrorists”, he said. He asked that the Nigerian Government should standup and fight the insurgents.
