The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called for the removal of Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammed as the Chief Justice of Nigeria over his comment on amending the Constitution to add more Sharia contents.
Justice Muhammed reportedly made the call while declaring open the 20th Annual Judges Conference at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria Faculty of Law’s Moot Court.
CAN in a statement signed by Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant Media and Communications to the CAN President, wondered why the CJN would make such comment in a secular country like Nigeria.
“Our attention has been drawn to the advocacy of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammed for the amendment of the Constitution with a view to adding more Sharia contents
“We have not seen the full text of the paper presented and we learnt the Chief Justice was represented at the event. So, it is difficult to know if the speech was that of the Chief Justice or his representative.
“We don’t believe that such a reckless and provocative statement could be made by the Number one Judicial officer in the country”, the statement said.
“How could the CJN say “We as Muslims have the numbers to amend the constitution…”? It is not possible”, CAN wondered.
“It is either he was misquoted outright or quoted out of context. Otherwise, what is the fate of Christians in his court if he could be so openly partisan and parochial? Do we take it that what he said is the official position of this regime on inter-faith relations? Why has no one in leadership, either, the Executive or Legislative arm of government taken him up on it?”, the Christian Apex body queried.
Furthermore, the statement said “Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is eagerly awaiting the rebuttal of the Chief Justice of Nigeria on the unfortunate and unguarded utterances that can provoke a religious crisis in the country.
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