CAN faults Babangida Aliyu on northern unity

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has faulted the claim by Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State that there were plots to cause dusunity in the region and that he and other northern leaders  have been presiding over a divided North.
 Speaking in an interview in Kaduna on Tuesday, Publicity Secretary of Northern CAN, Elder Sunday Oibe, said Governor Aliyu,  who is chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, should put his house in order and stop discriminating against Christians in his state before there would be unity in the North.
“The Niger State governor should stop insinuating that some people are causing division in the North. He is one of those causing the division with his discrimination against Christians. If he truly wants northern unity, let him start by correcting the imbalance in the political arrangement in Niger State,” he said.
He said before Aliyu became the governor of Niger State, there was Christian deputy governor in the state but when he became governor, he picked a Muslim as his deputy, while the speaker of the state House of Assembly was also a Muslim in spite of the fact that there is a large number of Christians in the state.
The Northern CAN spokesman said the North was fragmented and nobody should be deceived about the idea of one North. He added that it was unfortunate that Governor Aliyu, who does not see the need to treat those in his state fairly, was preaching northern unity.
He called on northern leaders to emulate the late Sarduana of Sokoto, who worked closely with the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi, the late Ambassador Jolly Tanko Yusuf and several other Christians in spite of their religious and political differences.
His said: “He is the chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, who is gallivanting and talking about northern unity forgetting that he is one of those working against the unity of the North. How can we be talking about one North and northern unity when people in leadership position openly discriminate against Christians? These so-called leaders are the ones causing division in the North.”
 “A North that is purely for Islam is not the type of North that can talk together. It is difficult for northern Christians to speak with one voice for a North that some people see as purely for Muslims.”
“In Kaduna State alone, we have about 53 different ethnic groups in the southern part of the state and Hausa/Fulani are just two tribes, yet we have a vice president who is a Muslim and whose majority of appointees are Hausa/Fulani Muslims. How can people be talking about the spirit of northern unity with this glaring discrimination we see everywhere in the North. I believe that President Goodluck Jonathan now knows better and nobody can deceive or mislead him in any way.”