Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has called on the Federal Government, northern governors and National Assembly members to call the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike to order over alleged demolition of mosque in the state.
CNG in a press conference by its spokesman, Abdulazeez Sulaiman, held in Kano on Sunday, described the demolition of the mosque and alleged declaration of Rivers State as a Christian state as a brazen disregard to the secular setup of the country by Wike.
According to the group, the acts of the governor was a breach of the guaranteed freedom of every Nigerian to practice their faith unimpeded by any legislation or obstacle imposed by a state or community.
CNG therefore called on the federal government, northern governor and federal lawmakers from the region to take immediate steps to reassert the rights of every Nigerian to practice the religion of his choice anywhere.
The group also called on the federal government to draw the attention of Wike to the consequences of repudiating the nation’s secular arrangement.
CNG, however condemned the act of Lagos State government by by arresting 123 men said to be from northern state of Jigawa.
The group therefore noted that “We observed that northerners face all sorts of humiliation and rejection like the latest incident in Lagos, because they are forced to seek alternative opportunities by the bulk of opportunities meant for northerners in the North that have been inadvertently taken up by people from the South.
“While northerners are denied the opportunity of employment to even the most menial of jobs in the South, all vacant positions available in the North as guaranteed by the local content clause of the federal character provision have been surrendered to southerners as a result of the negligence of the bankrupt elite that pose as northern political leaders,”
CNG, therefore called on the federal government to show proof of its capacity to protect citizens in all parts of the North.