Vice Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has berated President Goodluck Jonathan for being the first Nigerian leader to have attended the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) since Nigeria was clandestinely enlisted by President Ibrahim Babangida in 1986.
Osinbajo said this on Tuesday, at an interactive session with professionals in Warri, Delta State.
Nigeria is one of the 57 member states of the OIC, an organisation that states that it is “the collective voice of the Muslim world” and works to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony”.
According to Osinbajo, those accusing the presidential candidate of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari, of being a Muslim fundamentalist, who might Islamize Nigeria are getting it all wrong.
“Throughout his period as military head of state, Buhari was under intense pressure to drag Nigeria into the OIC, but he never yielded, because he respects Nigeria as a secular state, in line with the constitution. Besides, his cook and driver are Christians.
“When Babangida eventually dragged Nigeria into OIC, none of his successors ever attended any of its meeting because they know to Islamise Nigeria is very difficult, as you need to first get the constitution amended. That process, you know, is almost impossible.
“But it is on record that in 2013, President Jonathan, undermining the constitutional limitation, ensured that Nigeria attended an OIC meeting,” he declared.