By Brave Dickson
Muslims in Rivers State have come out to strongly condemn comments credited to Governor Nyesom Wike that the state is 100 per cent Christians describing it as false and misleading.
The Muslims said the governor’s comment has endangered their lives adding that hooligans are now leveraging on such comment to attack them and their mosques.
In an interview with our correspondent, the State Islamic Leader and Vice President General, Rivers State Council For Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Nasir Awhelebe Uhor appealed to Governor Wike to withdraw such comment, saying that attacks on Muslims and mosques in the state as a result of the wrongly misused of his comment by hoodlums are one too many.
Alhaji Uhor said, “with due respect to Governor Wike, I totally disagree with him on this particular issue. I have time again pointed out that, that statement is uncalled for because it is wrong and misleading.
“It would have been more appropriate to say that Rivers State is a majority Christian state and nobody will quarrel with that because that is a statement of fact. Because right here in Rivers State, we have Christians in the majority. But when Governor Wike now says 100 per cent Christian state, that is falsehood and it closes the door on the thousands of Muslims in the state that are spread across every local government area of the state. The funny thing there is that Obio/Akpor LGA which is his (Wike’s) own local government area holds one of the largest concentration of Muslim population in the state.
“Okay, outside the Muslims, is the governor telling us that there are no traditional worshippers in the state too? During traditional festivals, you will see traditional worshippers all over the state. Will he (Wike) say they are not part of this state?
“By the way, if Rivers State is 100 per cent Christians, then why are churches still doing crusades to convert non-Christians in the state?
“The statement of the governor is putting especially we the Muslim population into danger. Why do I say that? We have suffered several attacks between 2017 and this year. In 2017, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) mob invaded Oyigbo LGA, attacked Muslims, burnt our shops and it happened again the following year. The attacks this year were even more brutal. On February 13 just before the presidential election at about 2 am this same group of people sprayed bullets into the central mosque there. Many Muslims escaped with gunshot wounds. For two brothers, who were not lucky to escape because of the injuries they have received were hacked to death with machetes inside the mosque. While, the Muslim victims who survived the attack were told by their attackers that several times, they (the Muslims) were told to leave the state but they refused that they will keep on receiving attacks because this is a Christian state. That was the statement heard from the attackers before they fled. We reported the matter to the police and other relevant authorities.
“On the 4th of February, another mosque here was attacked at the same unholy hour at #36 Bonny Street in the Old Port Harcourt Township. They vandalized and looted every facility of the mosque. They (the attackers) left with the same warning that here is a Christian state. At #208 Bende Street where the Rivers State Central Mosque is located, an attempt to attack the mosque was made and the attackers left with the same warning. You can see that it is becoming a sing-song by hooligans and deviant characters who want to take it out on Muslims. They (the attackers) are now finding refuge and justification with the utterance of the governor. And no other person has been telling us that this is a Christian state than the governor and hooligans are now leveraging on that to attack Muslims.
“Sometime ago in last year, trailer drivers killed somebody along East-west road. Because they were trailer drivers, the aggrieved relations of the deceased pounded on the mosque there. They destroyed the mosque and the Muslims in the mosque had to run for their dear lives. At the end of the day, it turned out that the trailer drivers who killed were not even Muslims and were not even Northerners either. They were from South-east and Akwa-Ibom State. But the damage on our mosque had already been done. The mosque was attacked on the wrong notion that the perpetrators of that murder were Muslims just because they were trailer drivers. So it has gone to a point that it is now assumed that all trailer drivers are Muslims from the North but that incident proved otherwise.
“We are appealing to the governor since his utterances are being misinterpreted in a very bad light and also being used as a cover to attack Muslims, it is best for him to review his utterances. The governor should know that both Muslims and non-Christian residents in the state are constitutionally under his protection, therefore, he should withdraw that statement.”
