Chairman of the Northern Christian Association, NCA, Rev. Joseph John Hayab, has called on the Federal Government to include religion in Nigeria’s next national census to end what he described as unverified claims of population strength and numerical dominance by religious groups.
He made the call on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Monday while reacting to recent comments by Islamic cleric, Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, who defended the Muslim Muslim ticket on the grounds of the population and popularity of Muslims.
According to him, claims about the numerical strength of particular religious groups have increasingly been used in political debates despite the absence of official data establishing the actual population and percentage of adherents of the country’s major faiths.
Jingir had made disparaging remarks about Christians claiming Muslims are more in Nigeria at an event in Kano organised by the Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus Sunnah, JIBWIS, and attended by the governors of Kano and Jigawa states, Abba Kabir Yusuf and Umar Namadi, respectively.
The cleric from the video urged Muslims to unite and use their numerical strength to pursue their political interests while also describing Christians as “infidels”.
Hayab said the development had once again highlighted the need for Nigeria to establish reliable data on the population of its religious groups instead of allowing unverified claims to influence political debates and religious relations.
“That is why we have called for every census to have the religious question included. Let us do this. Why have people been running away from putting religious questions in the census and then coming out behind the scenes to beat their chests?” he asked.
He challenged the Federal Government to stop avoiding the issue and include questions.about religion of respondents in the next census, saying the data would help end claims of numerical superiority of a particular faith.
“Let us have the question on religion of respondents. Let us really know who is in this country and what the percentages are so that people will stop insulting fellow Nigerians,” Hayab said.
According to him, no religious group should use claims of population strength to demean, intimidate or seek political advantage over other Nigerians.
He said the controversy surrounding the Muslim Muslim ticket was not about denying Muslims the right to support candidates of their faith but about ensuring fairness, inclusion and mutual respect among Nigerians.
He argued that President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima were not elected by Muslims alone, noting that the ticket received support from states and communities with significant Christian populations.
“Will you tell me that the current Muslim Muslim ticket that you claim to have put was only elected by Muslims? No, sir. I can count names of states that are mostly Christian. The man won in those states.
“So, it was not just the Muslims that voted for him. Even though we had concerns and advised that there should be a balance for fairness, we were not going to war to install anybody or anything.
“We only wanted understanding and togetherness, as enshrined in our Constitution,” Hayab said.
The NCA chairman noted that Nigeria had previously witnessed political tickets involving candidates of the same faith, saying the issue was not new to the country.
He cited the Moshood Abiola and Babagana Kingibe ticket, arguing that the current controversy was not necessarily about the religious identity of political candidates but the use of divisive rhetoric and unverified claims of numerical superiority.
“It is not today that Nigeria had a Muslim Muslim ticket. We voted for Abiola and Kingibe. We did not have a problem with that. We have had Buhari and Diakpo. Nobody had a problem with that.
“But when we start making terrible rhetoric against one another and start insulting people publicly, please, can we solve this problem once and for all?” he said.
Hayab maintained that a census capturing religious affiliation would provide a factual basis for discussions about the country’s religious demographics and help reduce competing claims of population dominance.
He said such data could also promote greater understanding and discourage political and religious leaders from using unverified population figures to deepen divisions among Nigerians.
The Northern Christian leader urged the Federal Government to consider the proposal in the interest of national unity, stressing that Nigeria must move away from divisive rhetoric and focus on addressing hunger, insecurity and other challenges confronting citizens.
“Nigeria needs unity. Nigeria needs togetherness,” Hayab said.