A Coalition of 16 Christian organisations has criticized the manner in which the Federal Government included last week Thursday as a public holiday after announcing Tuesday and Wednesday as work-free days.

In a statement circulated yesterday in Abuja, the groups, which include the National Christians Elders Forum (NCEF), Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria (CLASFON) and the Nigerian Christian Graduate Fellowship (NCGF), congratulated Muslims for their successful completion of the Ramadan fast in 2016, but expressed reservations at the government’s mismanagement of the call for the holidays.

The organisations, which noted that the government had earlier declared Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th July as public holidays only to reverse itself and declare Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th July 2016 as public holidays, described the situation as a mark of institutional unseriousness for Thursday to be included.

The groups said: “We are equally appalled that the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau based the decision to declare Thursday as a public holiday on ‘the directive by the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, to the effect that the Ramadan fast continues today (Tuesday) as a result of the non-sighting of the moon’. We are not aware that Nigeria has transmuted into a religious theocratic state in which the leader of a religious group issues ‘directive’ to the Federal Government. If the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs confirmed Wednesday and Thursday as public holidays for the Ramadan fasting, then who advised the Federal Government to declare Tuesday a public holiday?

“As innocuous as some people may want to present this development, it is a dangerous signal confirming the worrisome direction of the party that promised Nigerians CHANGE from the lawlessness and impunity that seem to characterize this nation. Since the inception of the Buhari administration, it has left no one in doubt of its discriminatory leaning towards Islam as the preferred religion in Nigeria, in violation of Section 10 of the Constitution. The Buhari Administration needs to be reminded again that Nigeria is not an Islamic Theocratic State that receives ‘directive’ from a Sultan. Nigeria is a democratic and secular nation and preferential treatment should not be accorded any section of the nation but all should be treated equally.

“If indeed a mistake was made in declaring Tuesday a public holiday that does not warrant declaring Thursday a public holiday. Both the Federal Government and leaders of Islam should have maintained the statutory two-day public holidays and learnt a lesson on how to not to repeat the mistake in future. It is very embarrassing the tardiness and shoddiness that the Buhari Administration has brought into governance in Nigeria. Decent and respectable people are ashamed at the flagrant acts of discrimination, nepotism, and impunity of the All Progressives Congress (APC)- led government.

“We wish to state clearly that declaring Thursday an additional public holiday is not only wrong but an insensitive approach to the management of the economy. The economic well being of the nation should not be sacrificed on the altar of religious fervor.
“Nevertheless, having illegally appropriated an additional day as pubic holiday during the Eid-el-Fitri, the Federal Government and leaders of Islam should be prepared to repay the nation the extra day during the next Eid-el-Kabir in which we expect only one day should be approved as public holiday. Nigeria should not be turned into a lawless nation. The APC led government should call itself to order.”

Other groups in the coalition include the Think Thank for the Body of Christ, Association of Christian Schools in Nigeria (ACSIN), Students Christian Movement (SCM), Christian Professionals Forum (CPF), Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship , and Nigerian Fellowship of Christian Students.