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Elder Said Dogo is the General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). In this interview with our Correspondent, RANA BAYOK in Kaduna, Dogo who was a member of a delegation that presented a position paper on the plight of Northern Christians to the governors of the 19 northern states, maintains that injustice and all forms of discrimination cannot bring progress to the North. Here are excepts.
During the recent meeting of the 19 Northern governors you present a paper a position paper to the governors, alleging discrimination and marginalization of Christians in some northern states. How bad is the situation?
You remember in 2004, we had a Northern peace conference and we presented a paper on the problems confronting Christians in the North and we thought something was going to be done after serious discussion of the problems at the conference, but to our surprise, nothing has changed. Among the issues that we highlighted, were issues that are actually causing disharmony in the north, things that have made peaceful coexistence so difficult in the North. To be precise, the states that are discriminating and marginalizing Christians are Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Zamfara, Yobe, Katsina and Kebbi states. These core Northern states have been discriminating against Christians in their states, including even their indigenes who are Christians. Why must a government that swore to protect the constitution of Nigeria discriminate against other Nigerians? We decided we had to bring this to limelight so that we can reason with the governors. One of the problems Christians face in these states is this refusal to teach Christian Religious Knowledge in their public schools. This is the fundamental right of these children, but they are being denied the moral aspect of their education. On the other hand Islamic Religious Knowledge (IRK) is being taught. They don’t allow for the building of churches, they don’t broadcast Christian programmes on their state Radio and TV stations, even federal broadcast station like the NTA located in these states don’t air Christian programmes. We cannot be in the same country and we are treated like this. How can we live in the same country like that? in some federal institutions and establishments in the far North, places like Uman Danfodio University in Sokoto, Bayero University, even in police barracks, you will see mosques everywhere but they will not allow for the building of churches there. This is not correct. In Katsina State, especially in the Southern part, there is a substantial number of Christians there, they are very educated, but if you go to Katsina, you will not see any of them who is appointed a permanent secretary or a commissioner there despite the fact that they are bona fide indigenes of the state. How can we live like that in the same country and we call ourselves northerners?
Prior to the early 70s, we were leaving harmoniously until some people started preaching hatred. After the Iranian revolution, we started seeing a different mode of preaching against Christianity. Before you know what was happening they were attacking Christians and their churches.
We have had cases where they will kidnap under age girls who are given to foster parents and they are eventually married out to Muslims under the pretext that they have been converted to Islam. The constitution says no person below 18 can give consent to this.
In public schools in the far North, Christian girls are being forced to dress like Muslims to the school by wearing the Hijjab. We have other states that are predominately Christians, but they are not denying Muslims nor forcing them to dress like Christians. We are also asking that missionary schools that were taken over by the government should be returned to improve the falling standard of education.
Look at the kind of poverty in the North? It is very shameful. We all are northerners but because of the policies and the type of discrimination and lack of equity in the distribution of resources is the cause of extreme poverty in the North. The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria once declared that 70 percent of the poverty in the country today is found in the North. I will give you an example. We used t have the Bank of the North, why is it that the bank, until its merger with other banks, was at the verge of collapse. You have northerners who are well trained in banking and finance, some even went to Harvard University, but they were never given opportunity in the North simply because of their religion.
So we are saying that these state policies that discriminate against us will not take us anywhere. Look at the issue of pilgrimage, if you go to Rivers and some southern states that are predominantly Christians, the percentage of Muslims in those states is very insignificant, yet they have a pilgrim board. But if you come to the places like Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa and Kano states, there is no pilgrim board for Christians anywhere. Go to Plateau and Benue states which are predominantly Christians, they have Muslim Pilgrim Board. In fact in Zamfara state, they have a ministry for religious affairs, but in that ministry, there is no section that handles Christian matters.
How did the governors react when you highlighted all these to them?
One of the governors walked out on us when we were presenting these problems to them. The governor of Sokoto state, Wamako just carried his things and left. He was not happy with the things we were telling them so he left. His action was quiet unfortunate. This is the kind of leaders we have. But the chairman of the Northern Governors forum who is the governor of Niger state, Dr. Aliyu Babangida specifically said he is disappointed if what we said is happening in some states. He said if these things are true, then nemesis is going to catch up with some people. He said these things we mentioned don’t exist Niger state. He said he was not happy. That was how our meeting with them went. We hope that they will look into these problems and address them.
How do you feel about the attitude of the Sokoto state governor?
He is very immature as a politician because when they voted him in Sokoto, I know very well that Christians also voted him. For him to have behaved that way is rather very unfortunate. It goes to show the kind of leader he is and his dislike for Christians.
 With the attitude of some a governor like that of Sokoto state is there any hope that some these problems you enumerated would be address?
It is our believe that as we continue this dialogue, we are hopeful that they will look into them. I believe that all the governors are educated, they are intelligent, so they can appreciate certain policies that are counter productive. Unless we see ourselves as northerners and carry everybody alone as an equal stakeholder, then we don’t have any hope of making progress. The remaining part of the country would making progress and moving forward while we would be moving backward without making any progress. This is a food for thought. We must ensure equity, justice and fair play to make progressive.
ENDS
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