•Dr Umar Ardo and Primate Elijah Ayodele
The Convener of the League of Northern Democrats (LND), Umar Ardo, has accused Primate Elijah Ayodele, leader of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, of using his prophecies to destabilise the country.
Ardo was reacting to a video in which the Primate warned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu against appointing Nigerians of Fulani extraction into sensitive positions in government.
He said the Primate was quoted as claiming that such appointments would result in “betrayal, shock and pain for the president,” reports Sunday Trust.
The former governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Adamawa State said ordinarily, such “careless talk would not merit a response. But coming from a man who parades himself as a priest and commands the attention of followers, silence would amount to condoning falsehood, bigotry and dangerous incitement.”
Ardo noted that Primate Ayodele’s position against the Fulani “is historically false, morally reprehensible and nationally destabilising. As a historian, I know that Nigeria’s history does not support Ayodele’s sweeping generalisation.”
According to him, Fulani men and women have served Nigeria with distinction, loyalty and sacrifice.
Citing examples, he said: “From Sir Ahmadu Bello, who built Northern Nigeria into a model of governance, to General Murtala Muhammad, who sacrificed his life for the sake of the country, to numerous other academics, technocrats, administrators and military officers who equally gave their all for the unity and wellbeing of this country — the record speaks for itself.”
He insisted that, “betrayals and failures in leadership have never been a portion of the Fulani people. We are a people of honour and excellence! What Ayodele is preaching is simply ethnic bigotry, fulbephobia and fulbemisia disguised as prophecy,” adding that for a man of God to single out an ethnic group and brand them as inherently “untrustworthy is shameful, hypocritical and unChristian.”
Ardo stressed that religious leaders are called to reconcile and inspire, not to incite and divide.
He argued that, “If it is wrong to stereotype the Yoruba or the Igbo, or any other tribe for that matter, it is equally wrong to stereotype the Fulani, as the double standard exposes the hypocrisy behind his so-called prophecy.”
He described Primate Ayodele’s utterances as a poisonous threat to national unity, especially at a time when Nigeria is striving to heal the deep fractures of ethnicity, religion and mistrust.
Ardo maintained that appointments into government should never be influenced by ethnic suspicion but must be based on merit, integrity, competence and loyalty to the Nigerian state. He urged Nigerians, especially leaders of thought and faith, to reject and condemn such divisive rhetoric.
