The Chairman of the Northern Christian Association (NCA), Rev. Joseph John Hayab, on Monday, August 10, 2026, declared that the time has come for Nigeria to away from divisive rhetoric and focus on addressing insecurity, hunger, unemployment, terrorism, banditry amongst other vices.
This was as he demanded the need by the Federal Government to as a matter of necessity and national importance, include religion in forthcoming national census with a view to put an end to unverified claims of population strength and numerical dominance by religious groups.
The Chairman of the NCA stressed that the proposal is in the interest of national unity and end divisive religious rhetoric, insisting that Nigeria needs unity and togetherness.
Hayab explained that the demand has become absolutely important owing to increasing claims by a particular religious group of unverified numerical strength 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.
Hayab, who spoke when he featured on Channels Television programme ‘Morning Brief’ while reacting to recent comments by an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, who defended the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket on the grounds of the population and popularity of Muslims, stressed that the unfortunate development has once again brought to the fore the need for Nigeria to establish reliable data on the population of its religious groups as against allowing unverified claims to influence political debates and religious relations.
Jingir had 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, urged Muslims to unite and use their numerical strength to pursue their political interests just as he described Christians as “infidels”.
But, Hayab while fielding questions on Channels Television, said that the Christian body had demanded for every census to have the religious question included.
In the words of Hayab; “Why have people been running away from putting religious questions in the census and then coming out behind the scenes to beat their chests?
“The Federal Government should stop avoiding the issue and include a religious question in the next census. The data would help end claims of religious numerical superiority.
“Let us have the religious question. Let us really know who is in this country and what the percentages are so that people will stop insulting fellow Nigerians,” Hayab insisted.
The Chairman of the Northern Christians Association said that no religious group should use claims of population strength to demean, intimidate or seek political advantage over other Nigerians, stressing that 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.
Hayab emphasised that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima were not elected by Muslims alone, stressing that the ticket received support from states and communities with significant Christian populations.
Hayab further said; “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 are not going to war to install anybody or anything. We only wanted understanding and togetherness, as enshrined in our Constitution,” he said.
Hayab insisted that a census that will capture religious affiliation would provide a factual basis for discussions about the country’s religious demographics and help reduce competing claims of population dominance.
According to him; “Such data could also promote greater understanding and discourage political and religious leaders from using unverified population figures to deepen divisions among Nigerians”.
