 |
Sultan
of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III
|
IG, church disagree over casualty figures
The Sultan of Sokoto and
President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA),
Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, yesterday asked President Muhammadu Buhari and
Governor Nasir El-Rufai to arrest and prosecute suspected killers in southern
Kaduna.
Condemning
the killings, the Islamic leader described them as unjust, heinous and
dastardly acts of destruction of lives and property.
The
sultan said that the NSCIA was particularly grieved that as at the last count,
no fewer than 808 lives of innocent Nigerians had been lost while nothing less
than 57 others had suffered life-threatening injuries.
A
statement by the Director of Administration, NSCIA, Ustaz Christian Isa
Okonkwo, said Muslims denounced the killings and destruction particularly
because they run contrary to fundamental Islamic law which ordains human life
to be sacred and strongly forbids its unlawful destruction except for a just
reason.
The
NSCIA, therefore, called on the federal and state governments to urgently “stop
this inhuman and barbarous state of anomie.”
“The
NSCIA would like the Federal Government and Kaduna State government to go a
step further by proffering lasting solutions to these recurrent acts of
hatefulness and savagery in southern Kaduna. We also call on the Federal
Government to objectively investigate the matter and prosecute whoever is found
guilty irrespective of the person’s tribe, creed and/or social status.
“We
urge all Nigerians to continue to promote justice, preach, teach and live in
peace with one another. We enjoin all Nigerians not to allow themselves to be
used by forces of evil, some of which may hide behind tribal, political or even
religious garbs in order to perpetrate these heinous acts,” the Muslims said.
The
Sultan quoted from a verse of the holy Quran (Quran 5: 32) to warn against
unjust killing, saying: “If anyone slew a person –unless it be for murder or
for spreading mischief on the land- his punishment would be as if he slew
humanity as a whole and if anyone saved a life, his reward would be as if he
saved the lives of humanity as a whole.”
The
position of the sultan is a right step in bringing peace to the area. It would
reassure the victims of the crisis, who are mostly Christians, that the Muslim
community does not support the violence. It is also a strong message to the
killers who are suspected to be Muslims that they do not enjoy the support of
Islamic leaders and thus they will be apprehended and prosecuted.
Meanwhile,
the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has disagreed with the Catholic
Archdiocese of Kafanchan on the number of people killed in the southern Kaduna
crisis.
The
church had alleged that the unrest had claimed over 808 lives in 53 villages in
the area. But Idris disputed the claim in Abuja at the New Year dinner organized
by the police for their personnel. But he did not give the ‘correct’ figures.
According
to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the IG stressed the need for
religious, community and political leaders to be patriotic in their endeavours
for peace to reign in the country.
The IG who cautioned Nigerians against actions that could cause unnecessary tension which could lead to the destruction of lives and property, urged the people to live in peace with one another despite religious and ethnic differences.
No comments:
Post a Comment