Eric Opoku’s Comment About Muslims Is Reprehensible

Yesterday, The Chronicle published a story quoting Alhaji Bashiru Zakari -National 1st Vice Chairman of the United People's Party (UPP) calling on Mr. Eric Opoku, Brong Ahafo Regional Minister to render an unqualified apology to Moslem sympathizers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in particular and Moslems in general.

According to the story, since the Regional Minister was not a Moslem, he should not attempt to interpret the Quran to satisfy his whims and caprices. The UPP 1st Vice Chair's call was premised on a statement made by the Regional Minister barely a week ago, which political watchers believe have the tendency to swirl religious conflict in the country.

Mr. Eric, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo South, made the statement when he addressed chiefs, Imams and party executives at a meeting held at Acherensua in the Asunafo South Constituency last week Tuesday.

Adomfmonline.com quoted Mr. Eric Opoku as stating emphatically that all Moslems who are members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) are fake because the Quran advises true Moslems to stay away from elephants, which is the emblem of the party.

The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, according to the news website, “supported his claims with a chapter in the Holy Quran, Surah verse 105, which he said stipulates that Muslims should stay away from elephants and that any Muslims who has something to do with an elephant is not a real Muslim.

Calling on Mr. Eric Opokuto render an unqualified apology to Moslems in the country, Alhaji Bashiru said: “The Minister should not play politics with religion or use politics to antagonize a section of the public; neither should he try to misinterpret the Quran to settle personal scores.”

He noted that: “The Minister is not a moslem and should not misquote the Quran to misinform the public”, explaining that “…the elephant is just a symbol of the NPP and that the elephant in the cited Quran could not be used to destroy verse.”

Alhaji Zakari debunked the claim of the Regional Minister that Moslems in the NPP are fake and went ahead to educate Eric Opoku that NPP was the first political party in the history of Ghana to have used both the Bible and Quran at the same time to swear in a President.

“He explained that swearing-in President Kufuor and Vice President Aliu Mahama with the Bible and Quran was the most beautiful spectacle to behold and, therefore, the Minister should not denigrate the Moslem sect”, the UPP 1st Vice Chair concluded.

The Chronicle supports Alhaji Zakari's call on the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister to apologize for the unfortunate comment. Under no circumstance should any attempt be made to play politics with any religious sect in this country, just to score a cheap political point.

The Regional Minister, like all other politicians, should take a cue from Richard M. Nixon, former President of the United States of America, who once said: “In the long term, we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars.”

The Chronicle insists, Mr. Eric Opoku must apologize to all Moslems, especially those who are members of the NPP, because his comment is indeed reprehensible.