Nigeria’s Muslims’ umbrella body, the Jamatul Nasir Islam (JNI), on Sunday, warned notable Christian leaders in the country to stop provocatives utterances against Muslims over recent herdsmen killings and not take their silence for ‘foolishness’.
Secretary-General of the group, Dr. Khalid Abubakar, while addressing a press conference in Kaduna, also accused parallel umbrella body representing Nigeria’s Christians, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), of deliberately and unnecessarily heating up the polity ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Among Christians leaders specifically mentioned in the address were Bishop of Living Faith Church, David Oyedepo, Apostle Johnson Suleiman of Omega Fire Ministries, Prophet Isa El-Buba of Evangelical Bible Outreach Ministry International and the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah.
According to Abubakar, some Christian leaders promote hate speeches, such as if you see a Fulani man kill him by Pastor Suleiman and crush them, kill them by pastor Oyedepo. The repercussion Of such speeches could be better imagined.
“In addition, Bishop Kukah’s hate speech against Muslims in Nigeria is legendary, as hardly would opportunity avail itself for him to talk without smearing Islam and Muslims in Nigeria.
“CAN and other Christian leaders such as Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Pastor Oyedepo, Suleiman and recently El Buba should not take Nigerian Muslims’ patience for foolishness, as their speeches are becoming really provocative and outlandish. Therefore, CAN should desist from making provocative statements in the midst of serious issues bedevilling the nation,” the JNI warned.
The JNI Secretary-General also rubbished a January 16 press statement by his CAN counterpart, Dr. Musa Asake. as “full of blatant lies and misinformation as well as seditious to the state.”
“The ‘herdsmen’ debacle must be understood that this is a mischievously invented by CAN over time and its biased errand boys among media practitioners stereotype an ethnic group so as to achieve a pre-planned agenda.
“Why is the whole herdsmen issue heightened now in 2018? simply, CAN is unnecessarily overheating the polity because 2019 is around the corner. Our take is that CAN should better go and register as a political party and contest election if they want to test their popularity.
“We nonetheless make bold to say that CAN is deliberately covering up by using the ‘herdsmen’ debacle as a franchise to perpetrate evil as witnessed in the Boko Haram tale,” he claimed.
The JNI, however, condemned the killings of innocent souls as well as the generalisation of criminals as representatives of the whole which they said lead to “unjust stereotyping and name calling.”
