HURIWA to Tinubu, Shettima: Speak on Jingir’s Muslim-Muslim presidency or risk being seen as endorsing religious supremacy

Prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has tasked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima to publicly and unequivocally reject the reported incendiary sermon by Sheikh Sani Jingir that a Muslim-Muslim presidency is ideal because Muslims constitute the majority of Nigerians.

The group said it considered the reported declaration an outrageous assault on Nigeria’s pluralistic character, constitutional democracy and the principle of equal citizenship.

It is now demanding that the President and Vice President immediately tell Nigerians where they stand.

The group said that it is more troubling, however, the deafening and inexplicable silence from the Presidency.

HURIWA warned that when a statement capable of inflaming religious sentiments is made publicly and the two highest-ranking officials in the country remain silent, Nigerians are entitled to ask whether that silence amounts to tacit approval, political convenience or outright endorsement.

“President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima must speak to dispel this weighty but divisive hate-filled rhetoric by an otherwise highly influential Islamic Cleric in Nigeria Sheikh Sani Jingir. If on the other hand the president and his vice maintain conspiratorial silence going forward, then it would be taken as a structured endorsement of the hate speech by Sheikh Jingir. 

“We in HURIWA strongly believe that our fatherland Nigeria belongs to Christians, Muslims and adherents of other faiths. No religious group owns Nigeria. No religion has a constitutional claim to political supremacy.”

It asserted that the Nigerian Constitution does not establish an Islamic Republic, a Christian Republic or any other religious state.

It added that Nigeria is a secular constitutional democracy in which citizenship, not religious identity, is the foundation of political rights. That statement by Sheikh Jingir if not immediately rebuffed by the highest authority in the land and the law enforcement agencies including the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force immediately invite Sheikh Jingir for clarification of his hate speech,  then the 2027 Presidential poll would inevitably be characterised by pockets of  religious motivated violence and disturbances especially in the far North whereby Christian electorate may be targeted by street urchins and political armed militias who support the position of Sheikh Jingir. 

HURIWA therefore said it found it profoundly disturbing when political or religious narratives suggest that numerical religious strength should determine who is entitled to occupy the highest offices of the land.

It said, “Democracy is not religious majoritarianism. Majority status does not confer superior citizenship. Muslims are not more Nigerian than Christians, and Christians are not more Nigerian than Muslims.

“This is precisely why HURIWA has consistently warned against the dangers of a same-faith presidency in a deeply religiously diverse country.

“Our objection has never been directed at any religion. It is rooted in the compelling need for inclusion, balance, trust and national cohesion in the management of a country where religious identity remains an extremely sensitive fault line.

“Nigeria has suffered enough from religious extremism, terrorism, communal violence and hate-filled rhetoric.

“At a time when terrorists and criminal networks are exploiting ethnic and religious fault lines to recruit, radicalise and divide Nigerians, responsible leaders should be building bridges — not constructing a theology of political superiority.

“HURIWA therefore asks President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima a straightforward question:

“Do you agree that a Muslim-Muslim presidency is “ideal” simply because Muslims constitute the majority?

“If the answer is NO, then Nigerians demand that you say so publicly and without equivocation.

“If the answer is YES, then Nigerians deserve to know whether the Federal Government has quietly embraced the dangerous doctrine that religious majority should translate into political supremacy.

“Silence is no longer an acceptable answer.

HURIWA also demanded that the relevant law-enforcement and regulatory authorities explain the legal position concerning statements that allegedly promote religious hatred, discrimination or hostility.

“If any Nigerian makes a statement capable of promoting hatred against members of a religious or ethnic community, how does the law respond?

“Does Nigerian law apply equally to ordinary citizens, political actors and influential religious figures?

“Or has Nigeria reached the dangerous point where powerful personalities can make incendiary statements with impunity while ordinary Nigerians face the full weight of the law?

“There must be no sacred cows in the enforcement of laws against hate speech, incitement and religious discrimination.

“HURIWA will not remain silent while religious majoritarianism is normalised under the cover of political rhetoric.

“We therefore demand that President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima publicly disown and condemn the reported divisive assertion.”

The President and Vice President were elected and appointed to serve all Nigerians, not a religious constituency.

Their oath of office is to the Nigerian state and its Constitution — not to a religious bloc.

“Nigeria is too fragile, too diverse and too battered by insecurity to tolerate political leaders who watch silently while divisive religious doctrines gain public space.