Sharia legal code was introduced by some Northern state governments to thwart the spread of Christianity in that part of the country as well as to pull down the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Archbishop Ola Makinde, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Abuja chapter, has alleged.
His words: "Part of the aim of the introduction of the political Sharia in Nigeria is to prevent or crush the spread of Christianity in the North. Another aim is to pull down the government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo which the political Sharia apostles see as a government headed by an infidel."
Rev (Dr.) Ola Makinde who is also the Methodist Archbishop of Abuja made this assertion at the weekend in a paper he delivered at the 6th Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria in Abuja.
Archbishop Makinde pointed out that even though the Sharia apostles have set a trap for Obasanjo, the trap has been broken and he has escaped, adding that now they are in the trap (and) very soon they will cry for help because what they are doing is not for God, but for self."
Lamenting the burning of churches and the killing and maiming of pastors and Christians by Islamic fundamentalists in some Northern states, the CAN chairman was however, optimistic that these actions would not stop Christianity from spreading. "The more they kill us, the more we shall increase, the more they burn the churches, the bigger the churches; the more they discourage and frustrate us, the more the Holy Spirit will embolden us to forge ahead like the people of old," he said enthusiastically.
Recalling General Buhari's outburst calling on Moslems not to vote for a Christian presidential candidate, Archbishop Makinde warned that the fall of Obasanjo's government is the fall of Christianity.
"Any pastor, any Christian politician, any Christian artisan, businessman or woman, farmer, driver, houseboy or girl, housewife that does not make Christ the foundation of his/her life will lose it on the last day," he further warned. He enjoined the political class to fight the present ills plaguing the society such as graduate unemployment, poverty, armed robbery, ethnic classes and epileptic electricity and water supply, which he described as "negative dividend of the military rule in Nigeria."
Noting that these problems are deepening daily, Makinde used the church to join the government in action and prayers to fight these ills, instead of constantly condemning and criticisng "our leaders more than we pray for them and advise them." His words: "our moral responsibility is to pray for them and support them to lay a solid political foundation of justice and righteousness which can exalt a nation. This does not mean that we have to compromise evil with them."