CAN erupts on Islamic banking: Reps failed Nigerians

Posted by admin CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria), General Politics, National Politics, Raw Politics, Religion Sunday, July 24th, 2011

Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, yesterday, expressed disappointment at the House of Representatives endorsement of the controversial Islamic banking in Nigeria, saying the act smacks of bowing to an already written script.

Reacting to the endorsement by the lawmakers after a briefing by the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, CAN national president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, described what took place at the hallowed chambers as a sham.

A statement by the CAN president said the members of the House have failed to pacify Nigerians who have called for the scrutiny of the CBN governor’s attempt to Islamize the country.

According to him, the Christian community and well meaning Nigerians are disappointed at what happened at the House of Representatives on Thursday, because the members could not muster the courage to ask very salient questions agitating the minds of the people.

For instance, Oritsejafor said, “they failed to ask the CBN governor very probing questions about the workability of the Islamic banking, the plot to Islamize the country which has already began with the reintroduction of Arabic symbols in the nation’s currency notes, and why Mallam Sanusi is using state funds to promote Islamic banking.”

He averred that well meaning Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief when all the major news media carried reports that the House of Representatives, after its plenary on Tuesday, summoned the CBN governor to explain the apex bank’s stand on Islamic banking and the decision to peg daily cash withdrawal limit by individuals at N150,000 and N1million for corporate customers effective 2012.

Oritsejafor further argued that the Christian community in Nigeria, which has been kept in the dark all along over the CBN’s quest for Islamic banking at the expense of other pressing economic issues, has raised eyebrows over the workability of the policy which appears to be another attempt to Islamize the nation.

“That was why we were happy at the cheery news of the House of Representatives’ invitation to the CBN governor to explain his role in the controversial Islamic banking,” he said, “but we were shocked that the honourable members did not even ask the Islamic scholar any questions apparently because he used the occasion to bamboozle them. Instead, what we witnessed was a blanket endorsement of the policy.

“What we saw on television was, to say the least, a sham; little wonder people have continued to call for a sovereign national conference to address some of the socio-economic problems militating against the nation.,” the statement added.

Oritsejafor argued that the Christian community had asked several questions which nobody had found answers to; including the return of Arabic symbols on the nation’s currency, after they were removed for three national languages during the Obasanjo regime.wp_posts