Tackling hate preachers to curb terrorism

ONE thing we must know about the rise of extremism in the world today is that hate preachers are responsible for fuelling terrorism. They make committing crime in the name of God as being a ‘passport’ to heaven, and in a world that is full of suffering, many disillusioned youths will rather die ‘doing God’s will’ and go to heaven than continue to suffer in this world.

That is why I want to commend the step the Kaduna State government has taken to tackle hate preaching, although the decision to licence preachers is not the best way to go about it.

Still talking of hate preaching, religious leaders, especially those in the Northern part of the country, need to do more to tackle the false teachings that when a man kills, he is doing it for God, and would get to Al-janah (paradise).

Just a couple of years ago, a man was reported to have ‘donated’ his daughter as a suicide bomber in Kano. It was when her suicide bomb refused to go off that she was apprehended, and she led law enforcement agents to her father, who had told her that if she carried out the evil order, she would find herself in paradise. How could a man have been so brainwashed to the extent that he would ‘donate’ his daughter for suicide attacks?

Now, the easiest way to counter false teachings and hate preaching is for the Federal Government to make primary and secondary education compulsory and free for all children in the country, particularly in Northern Nigeria.

An educated mind is hard to manipulate; when one is educated, one would ask questions, especially on how someone who kills other people and causes destruction would go to paradise. God cannot be fought for and He would never support the destruction of his handiwork.

I, therefore, want the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Saad, who is the leader of Muslims in Nigeria, to convey a summit of all religious leaders and preachers in Northern Nigeria. The essence of this summit would be that religious leaders and preachers must return to their bases and start telling people that no one would get to Al-Janah by destroying other people.

• Usman Habu,

ushabu65@gmail.com