Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged religious leaders to help the country by navigating religion away from politics.
The former Vice President said, had this been the case few years ago, the nation would have been spared the needless controversies and dissipation of energies that trailed the introduction of Sharia in some parts of the North.
In a statement issued by his media office in Abuja on Tuesday, the former Vice President said though Muslims are free to practice Sharia in line with Islamic injunction, it was important for religious rulers to ensure that they do not give politicians the leverage to “smuggle religion into our politics.”
“The interests of our country will be better served if our religious rulers ensure that religion is taken away from politics and by our politicians not dragging politics into religion,” the Turaki Adamawa said.
Meanwhile, Atiku has dismissed allegations that he is preparing one of his sons to become the Governor of Adamawa State.
The former Vice President expressed total disbelief that his political opponents in Adamawa State could go to this extent against him.
According to Atiku, all his children are content to pursue professional lives in their various callings and that he had no business imposing his choices on them.
He said such allegation could only have come from idle minds and busybodies looking for cheap publicity or finding someone to blame for their political problems.
The former Vice President maintained that he is not the kind of father that imposes his career on his children, adding that his responsibility was to give them good education to pull them up in life.
Atiku also advised those spreading such mischievous falsehood to desist and find something more useful to do with their time than planting the seeds of discord and acrimony among the peace-loving people of Adamawa State.
