Christians demands must be met – MURIC
April 29, 2014 by Sodiq Oyeleke
Director of MURIC, Prof. Ishaq Akintola
The
demands of Christians made through the Christian Association of Nigeria
should be met, the Muslim Rights Concern has said in a statement on
Monday.
The demands made by CAN included the establishment of ecclesiastical courts throughout Nigeria among four other requests.
Director of MURIC, Prof. Ishaq Akintola,
in the statement, said treating the demands of various groups
dispassionately would promote the success of the National Conference.
He said, “The latest submissions by CAN
will no doubt move the dialogue machinery forward. We at MURIC have
always asked Christians in the country to tell Nigerians what they
wanted instead of always opposing what the Muslims want. It is our
belief that if all stakeholders in the Nigerian project openly make
their demands, the task of harmonising our interests will become easier.
“We believe that demands which fall
within the fundamental human rights of each group should be granted
while no group should stand in the way of another so long as a group’s
demand does not encroach on others’ rights. All groups should respect
the ‘Live and let live’ golden rule.
“It is in this respect, that we are
asking the National Conference to approve CAN’s requests. We are not
unaware that the existing courts in the country which use common law are
Christian courts. Yet, unlike the hostile stand of CAN when Muslims
demanded Shariah law, Islamic banking, etc, Muslims are prepared to
tolerate Christian courts so long as the latter will serve Christians
only and no Muslim will be brought before them.”
The MURIC director further appealed to
Christians to see Muslims as partners in progress, saying the focus of
the National Conference should not be diverted.
He said, “CAN has a perception complex whereas negotiations and dialogues require open-mindedness to succeed.
We advise the Christian body to infuse
integrity and sincerity of purpose into its manouvres particularly in
the National Conference because unless we are all transparently honest
with ourselves Nigeria may come out worse than it was before the
conference began.”
http://www.punchng.com/news/christians-demands-must-be-met-muric/
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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