The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, said the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, just played a game with his remarks in a recent video earlier this week.
The Kaduna State Chairman of CAN, John Joseph Hayab, stated this in an interview with Arise TV on Wednesday.
According to the President of Kaduna State CAN, El-Rufai was only following his personal agenda and did not speak for the Muslims of Kaduna and Nigeria.
A viral video of El-Rufai speaking on a Muslim-Muslim ticket that went viral on the internet helped the APC retain power in Kaduna, and President Bola Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election.
El-Rufai, who addressed the Kaduna Muslim Clergy Congregation (Hausa), said: “Despite all the ethical gathering and use of religion, God has given victory to Asiwaju Tinubu. “What we successfully did in Kaduna (Muslim-Muslim flag) has now been replicated across the country,” he said.
But reacting to El-Rufai’s claims, Hayab said: “First of all, this video is real because it is El-Rufai for you. If you have known El-Rufai for 20 years and you are watching this video now, you know. it is El-Rufai because El-Rufai has not changed.
“I say clearly because even the thought that Asiwaju was won by a Muslim shows that the man really lives in an inferiority complex, feels that people look down on me, people feel that I am not worthy. So he says things and acts to show his power,” he added.
Speaking on the Muslim-Muslim ticket and Tinubu’s victory, the CAN president said, “Everybody knew that Asiwaju’s victory, whatever others argue in court, is not our concern. It was originally a collective vote of Christians.
“Benue State is over 90 percent Christian, Asiwaju won there, so you can’t say there was no Christian vote, you can say there was no Christian vote in Rivers State and you can go ahead and look at other states.
However, Hayab said CAN’s real response was to ignore El_Rufai, adding: “Ignore the man who demands attention. Ignore the man who plays tricks. Don’t even take him seriously. “I know that Uba Sani (the new governor of Kaduna) will find a way to unite the country and take it to a higher level, so El-Rufai is just trying to play the game and we don’t even want to play his game.
“El-Rufai does not speak for religion. We do not fight Muslims, we do not blame Muslims because we know that El-Rufai does not speak for them and we know that Muslims do not think so. We want a united Nigeria. We want a Nigeria, which we gave the mandate to lead us as a nation,” he said.
