In his campaign, General Buhari pledged to govern as a centrist moderate, respecting the fact that Nigeria was a secular and multi-religious country. He has lived up to this promise by appointing women to his campaign committees and mingling freely with them to the chagrin of hardline conservative Islamic scholars who want him to operate like a Muslim mullah.
Culturally divided between a predominantly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south, Nigeria has always been vulnerable to religious differences. General Buhari has promised to confront such differences, however, by governing in the interest of everybody and respecting the different cultures and faiths.
Last week, General Buhari was in Edo State to attend the wedding of Governor Adams Oshiomole and publicly shook hands with his bride, Cape Verdan former model Lara. Some northern Islamic scholars have frowned at this, saying the Muslim faiths prohibits a man from shaking hands with a woman who is not his wife.
One Islamic scholar said: "By Allah I am also giving my support to that call because the Prophet pbuh forbade it and advised us to call our brothers and sisters in faith to order if we see them go wrong. He is a human being and he is bound to make mistakes but the Hadith clearly stated that shaking hands with a woman who is not your Mahram is a grievous offense in the face of almighty Allah.
"I see more handshakes are comings but God forgive the general. We agree he is not a Muslim president but a Nigerian president but the fact remains he is first a Muslim so he should be guided before he incurs the wrath of Allah."
Such criticisms are likely to generate religious tensions as a lot of southern Christians already mistrust Buhari and during the election campaign, he portrayed as a hardline intolerant Muslim. Bowing to such pressures will automatically portray General Buhari as a fundamentalist Muslim and is likely to derail his government.
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