The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has faulted the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, over a nationwide protest on the lingering insecurity across the country.
Recall that the leader of RCCG, Pastor Adeboye had led his congregation to a protest in line with the directive of CAN for a nationwide protest by Christians on the killings of Nigerians, especially Christians.
The NSCIA during a press briefing, on Wednesday, by its Director of Administration, Alhaji Yusuf Chinedozi Nwoha, said the protest gave political colouration to grinding insecurity fueled by hypocrisy and hubris.
NSCIA further said Political mercenaries and religious combatants united by rapacious greed and chronic hatred have occupied the public space with putrid writings and toxic speeches.
“It is rather discomfiting and heart-rending that some misguided elements in our country have resorted to the dangerous game of playing politics with security. Political mercenaries and religious combatants united by rapacious greed and chronic hatred have occupied the public space with putrid writings and toxic speeches.
“For the sake of fleeting popularity and Twitter-trending, some public figures with ulterior motives offer themselves as willing tools in the hands of disgruntled politicians to play politics with insecurity without remembering that when the fire they are stocking becomes an uncontrollable conflagration, there would be nowhere for them to play their politics as the nation would have been consumed. It is a failure of education the people goaded by ambition cannot see the big picture and the danger inherent in their actions.
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“In essence, rather than see the monstrosity that insecurity has become a national challenge that requires collective action, agents of destabilisation seek to score cheap political goals and engage in self-indicting propaganda.
“One of them is the recently organised street show by some religious leaders who give political coloration to grinding insecurity fueled by hypocrisy and hubris.
“But efforts must be doubled through the instrumentality of hard work and prayers so that the enemies of Nigeria will be unveiled and this is where Government must double or triple its efforts at counter-insecurity measures,” he said.
While backing President Muhammadu Buhari that more Muslims have been killed by terrorists in Nigeria, Alhaji Nwaoha said the thinking that Boko Haram was created to eliminate Christian was wrong. He said more Muslims have been killed during Boko Haram attacks.
“We want to state in unequivocal terms, and for the umpteenth time, that Boko Haram does not represent Islam or Muslims. The group and the enemies of Islam hiding behind its mask are pursuing a rogue, venal and doggy agenda far removed from Islam.
“It is, therefore, the height of insincerity, wickedness, falsehood and hypocrisy to suggest that Boko Haram is a ploy to eliminate Christians, a dummy being promoted by some dealers camouflaging as religious leaders to their followers and the outside world.
“It is incontrovertible that more Muslims, including Imams, have been slaughtered, displaced and dismembered than Christians since Boko Haram became what it is: a hydra-headed monster. Indeed, more mosques have been bombed or destroyed in the bloody campaign, which has consumed precious lives including those of our professors.
“To suggest that Christians are killed because they refuse to embrace Islam stands logic on its head. Were Muslim scholars and individuals killed in mosques, market squares and villages killed because they refused to denounce Islam?
“In September 2018, a prominent Muslim General was murdered in cold blood and his body was dragged to an abandoned mining pit filled with water in Dura-Du District of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.
“The vicious Christian community that perpetrated the dastardly act then mobilised its shameless and barely clad women who protested unsuccessfully against emptying the pond in which the general’s remains and his car were found.
“We never generalised by accusing Christians in Nigeria of murdering Muslims or turned the unsavoury development to a Muslim-Christian brouhaha. We rather called for the arrest and prosecution of the irresponsible women and those who committed the murder,” he said.
“Christians have been known to engage in terrorism in Nigeria with a view to blaming it on Muslims. Only cases of the failed ones are known. They commit murder, engage in kidnapping and resort to heinous propaganda to put Nigeria and her Muslim population on the defensive.
“Their media wing distorts news and skews reports to reveal and project their Islamophobia but the voiceless Muslims have Allah and He is sufficient. The Internet does not forget the following instances, out of many failed terrorist acts and false flag operations that would have been blamed on Muslims in Nigeria if they had succeeded,” he added.
Listing some of the Christians involved in terrorism, the NSCIA Director of Administration said “Mr John Alaku Akpavan, a Christian, was arrested on June 5, 2011 while attempting to bomb the Radio House, opposite the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
“Ms Lydia Joseph, a Christian from Bauchi State and failed bomber of St John Catholic Cathedral, attempted to carry out her terrorist act on September 12, 2011. A Christian indigene of Akwa Ibom State, Augustine Effiong, carried out a bomb attack on Bayero University, Kano, on April 29, 2012.
“Emmanuel King, a Christian who disguised his religious identity by dressing like a Muslim, was arrested while attempting to bomb the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on December 28, 2011.
“Christian traders of Igbo extraction gunned down a dozen fellow Igbo businessmen inside the Christ Apostolic Church, Adamawa State, on January 6, 2012. Madam Ruth, a Christian, attempted to bomb the ECWA Church, Kalaring Kaltingo, in Gombe State on March 12, 2012.
“Some eight Christians were arrested in Bauchi in an attempt to bomb COCIN Church on February 26, 2012. Another Christian bomber was lynched same day (February 26, 2012) while attempting to escape after bombing COCIN Church in Jos. Jonathan Gyanet, a Christian police officer, was arrested while attempting to bomb ERCC Church in Akwanga Nasarawa State on April 20, 2014.”
“Rather than playing the blame game or playing to the gallery as ethnic irredentists and religious bigots want to do, what is important is to support government to eliminate insecurity in Nigeria,” he said.
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