Nigeria: Islamic Group Flays Fayose Over Fresh Malicious Campaign Against Buhari

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State is swimming in fresh troubled political waters barely one month after receiving mass condemnation from Nigerians for his death-wish advertorial against retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

This time around, Fayose has been indicted by the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (SCIAN) for allegedly sponsoring malicious media advertisement, using Islamic pseudo names 'The Southern Nigeria Al-Hikmah Generation', targeted at painting General Buhari as wanting to operate Sharia in the country, if elected President at the forthcoming polls.

SCIAN, speaking through a member of its General Purpose Committee, Alhaji Kunle Sanni, told journalists in Ibadan yesterday that the Council had uncovered plots by Fayose "to create tension within the Muslim Ummah or divide us politically" with the purported advertisement which appeared in some national dailies recently under the pseudo name 'The Southern Nigeria Al-Hikmah Generation'.

While condemning the advertisement in its totality, SCIAN disclosed that its "investigation has revealed that Governor Fayose is the one using some people to perpetrate this ignoble act with the aim of creating tension among the muslim community."

"We condemn it in all its totality," Kunle Sanni stated.

He declared: "Our Council noted with concern the contents of a media advertisement carried by an organization which called itself 'The Southern Nigeria Al-Hikmah Generation' commending Buhari for wanting to operate Sharia. From all our records, there is no organization with that name and we have done our research, we looked at the address inscribed on that advert, but our investigation revealed that that address does not exist.

"We see it as an avenue to create tension within the Muslim Ummah or divide us politically. We are no politicians. We don't belong to any political group. But our members belong to several political groups. And we don't want them to create confusion within the Muslim Ummah. So, we see this advert as the handiwork of some very desperate politicians who want to blackmail the presidential candidate of the APC, using the Islamic card. And we don't see think this election has to do with religion. It has to do with the issues of integrity, discipline and those who are prepared to reshape the economy of Nigeria so that the country can be a better place for all of us.