Nigerians Urged to Place  Emphasis on Competence, Not Religion

Ibrahim Oyewale, Lokoja

Ahead of 2023 general elections, Nigerians have been tasked not to place emphasis on Muslim/ Muslim or Muslim/ Christian ticket in their choice of who to vote for during the election, rather they should be concerned with people that have ability and capacity to perform.

A Muslim Cleric and the Chairman, Kogi State Muslim  Organisations (KOSMO), under the auspices of Jama’atu Nasril Islam JNI, Mr. Nasirudeen Yusuf, gave the charge at the 1444 AH Hijrah Commemoration Lecture and the unveiling the 1444 Hijrah calendar and presentation of award to some personalities held at the Sharif Ishaq Aboki Mosque, Marine Road, Lokoja at weekend.

Yusuf urged Muslims to ensure that they get registered and collect their PVCs, cautioned against voting on the basis of political parties.

He lamented the unprecedented and untold hardship Nigerians are facing, lamenting that the total failure on security, severe hunger in the country, expressed worries that the gap between the rich and the poor has widened.

The chairman decried that the rich are getting richer and the poor in Nigeria are getting poorer, adding that the present administration has failed woefully and urged Muslims not to be deceived by religion but what they candidates can offer.

The Chairman expressed dismay that the nation’s university students have been at home now for six months with parents and the students facing untold hardship, and urged Muslims in the state to get registered and make informed choices.

While noting that the education and health sector is nothing to write home about, he lamented that as long as the salaries of National Assembly members are higher than that of the nation’s teachers, no one should expect any change in the educational sector.

He said that the people have the choice to remain perpetually in poverty or live better lives, urged them to reject tickets on the basis of faith, urged the people to vote performance, credibility, competence, and not political party.

The chairman, therefore, urged the federal and state governments to declare the 1st day Hijrah as public holidays like others already in place.