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| Hon Maitala |
MY
DESIRE IS TO BUILD A BRIDGE ACROSS RELIGION AND ETHNIC DIVIDES – HARUNA
MAITALA.
By
Dickson Gupiya
September
04, 2018
Hon. Haruna Maitala, an
aspirant for the House of Representatives Jos North/Bassa on the platform of
the All Progressive Congress (APC) has blamed some politicians of using
religion and ethnic sentiment to cause hatred and create divisions among the
citizens for their selfish interests.
Maitala, said this in an
exclusive chat with African Drum
recently after the inauguration of his campaign directorate at his campaign
office along Murtala Mohammed Way Jos recently. He said religious intolerance
and disharmony was breed by greedy and selfish politicians out of desperation
to obtain and clinch to political power stressing that such politicians don’t
have good programmes to sell to the electorates consequently; they resort to
playing ethnic and religion cards.
The aspirant said that these
are some of the reasons that prompted him to contesting the election in order
to make a difference. He recalled with nostalgia how he grew up peacefully
among people of different ethnic and religion background adding that the menace
became rampant just of recent.
“I was born and brought up
in Jengre, Bassa Local Government Area. I went to a missionary school. We were
mixed up, both Christians and Muslims. We co-existed peacefully. I was brought
into politics by my elder brother. Some years back, I initiated a political
platform where politicians in my locality came together to forge a common front
and we were like brothers and sisters.
I became instrumental to the success of many
politicians both in Bassa and Jos North Local Governments mostly Christians, by
contributing larger chunk of funds for their campaign activities.
So, you see, to me, it’s not
about religion, it is not about ethnicity. It is about capacity, it is about
vision, it is about nation building, it is about being focused and whoever that
is endowed with these attributes should be considered irrespective of their
religion or ethnic background.”
He advised the people, most
especially the youths to shun those politicians who rely on religion and ethnic
sentiments to score cheap political points.
Speaking on the boundary
issue between the Rukuba and Irigwe, he promised to liaise with Government,
political and traditional stakeholders of the two communities to find a lasting
solution to the issue.
Maitala however added that
the most important thing he intended doing is to engaged the youths in these
communities in various ventures to avoid being idle, a factor that breeds
restiveness.
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