Interfaith body clears Ishaku of alleged bias in appointments

INEC tasks Islamic leaders on voter registration

Taraba State Inter-faith Peace Coalition has faulted allegations that Governor Darius Ishaku marginalises the Muslim community in the state, especially in the area of appointments.

Reacting, yesterday, to allegations of religious bias against Ishaku by the Muslim Council of Nigeria (MCN), Taraba branch, the group said the governor has no discriminatory policy against any of the religious sects.

It wondered why MCN came out with such an allegation, in a statement made available to newsmen in Jalingo.

Led by Ayuba Abdullahi and Timothy Audu, the coalition affirmed: “Governor Ishaku-led administration has always supported the Muslim faith when the need arises.”

The non-inclusion of Muslims in the recent appointment of 12 permanent secretaries in the state triggered the allegation from the Muslim group.

Faulting the MCN, the coalition noted: “On the recent appointment of permanent secretaries, our findings show that no senior Muslim civil servant, who was due and qualified to be promoted to the rank of the permanent secretary, was denied.

“The Muslims still have a good number of permanent secretaries in the state civil service. The appointment of civil servants as permanent secretaries under the current administration has always been based on merit and the records are available in the public domain.”

IN another development, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, lamented poor voter registration in Kaduna and other states of the federation.

Presenting a paper, yesterday, to sensitise Islamic leaders on the need to take the Continuous Voters Registration (CRV) in the state seriously, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Kaduna State, Dr. Asmau Maikudi, blamed insecurity, inadequate sensitisation and other factors for the poor voter registration.

The commission enlightened the Ulamas and other Islamic leaders to mobilise the voting population in preparation for 2023.

It noted that Kaduna voting strength, which was rated third, Lagos and Kano, during the 2019 general elections has dropped to almost 15th position.

The presentation by the Kaduna REC was entitled ‘State of Continuous Voter Registration (CRV) in Kaduna’ in the meeting organised by the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN).

“When you look at the figures of 2019 general elections in terms of voters registration, Lagos came first, Kano second and Kaduna third.”

“We began voters registration in June last year; did the first quarter, second quarter and now we are in the third quarter. What we are seeing is that Kaduna is not doing very well, so we felt that we should engage stakeholders and sensitise them,” the REC said.