Fani-Kayode: God Sent Uba Sani to Restore Peace, Unity in Kaduna

John Shiklam in Kaduna

Former  Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has described the Kaduna State governor, Senator Uba Sani, as “God-send” to restore peace, unity,  and justice in the state.

Speaking at the 35th Anniversary Synod of the Diocese of Kafanchan, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), at the weekend, Fani-Kayode said the governor’s emergence was a divine intervention after years of carnage and discrimination against Christians in the state.

He recalled that there was a time when all  security chiefs in the country were northern Muslims, and Christians, particularly in Kaduna, suffered marginalisation.

Fani-Kayode said with Sani’s leadership, “the situation has started to change for the better in Kaduna State,” adding that, “what he is doing should serve as an example to the rest of the country.”

“The governor that you have today came as a consequence of prayer. I have known him for many years. He is one of my closest friends. He is not an ordinary person,” he said.

Fani-Kayode noted that “there was a time in this very ground, you had a governor who despised Christians.

“I use the word ‘despised’ advisedly and with a capital ‘D’. He treated Christians with contempt and disdain.”

The former minister recalled the Christmas Day massacre of December 25, 2016, when 800 people were killed in four local government areas of Southern Kaduna, saying he wrote and spoke extensively about the tragedy.

He lamented that hospitals were closed and victims abandoned by the government.

“Nobody listened to you from Government House so that you will suffer all the more. And that kept on happening, community after community,” he said.

According to him, the persecution of Christians became a rallying point for believers across the country.

“To be a Christian is not to be a second class citizen, is not to be a slave, is not to be a nobody. To be a Christian is to be everything, a child of the living God, a believer,” he said.

He said God answered the prayers of Christians by raising “a humane governor in the person of Senator Uba Sani,” whose victory many doubted.

“One of the first things that Uba Sani did when he came in, and he told me he was going to do this, was the bridging of the division between Christians and Muslims. “And he honoured that promise. Kaduna is now both for Christians and Muslims as well,” he said.

According to him, the killings in Southern Kaduna stopped after Sani assumed office, saying the state is now “more united and peaceful, with no more carnage or Christian persecution.”

“This is a governor who entered a church. I saw it on television and I was so touched. And out of respect to us, and our faith and our God, he removed his cap.

“This is a man that you must respect and revere and stand by. Not only that, this is why you must ensure that you make total and complete peace with the Muslim community”, he said.

Fani-Kayode called on Christians and Muslims to forgive, reconcile and work together to develop the state.

“If you lost a child during the time of terror, just like Mahatma Gandhi told the Hindus, find a Muslim child to adopt. And if you are a Muslim and your child was killed by Christians, look for a Christian child and adopt,” he advised.