Nigeria’s House of Reps can’t be led by all Muslims – CAN

The Christian Association of Nigeria says an all-Muslim leadership of the ninth National Assembly could set a ‘dangerous’ precedent for the country.

It is “fair, equitable and just” for particularly the new House of Representatives to have a Muslim-Christian balance in its leadership as its Senate counterpart, Mr. Kwamkur Samuel, CAN’s National Director, Legal and Public Affairs said, Sunday.

“As a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation, there is today an urgent need for deliberate balancing in the nation’s governance to ensure fairness and equity in religious and geographical spread in the selection of the country’s leaders.

“This is necessary in view of the current fragile state of inter-group relations in Nigeria and the need to arrest the current drift in the direction of mutual suspicion,” Mr. Samuel said in a press statement.

The country’s leadership structure being dominated by one religion will heighten existing fears of a plot to Islamize the country, the statement says.