Shiite members in Kano State have raised alarm over the alleged attempt to pitch them against the state government.
In a statement issued on behalf of the group by Dauda Nalado, a lecturer at the Bayero University Kano, the body said its members were law-abiding and had not been involved in any act of violence in all the years that they had been in the state.
The statement called on the government of Kano to disregard the letter, which it said was capable of undermining the peace and stability of the state.
“It has come to our notice that Alhaji Lawal Hasan, a resident of Kofar Waika neighborhood in Kano metropolis has signed a letter of complaint against the Islamic Center of the Islamic Movement, addressed to the state government,” the statement read.
“In the letter dated January 12th, 2016, the writer accused brothers and sisters of the Islamic Movement of carrying out ‘dangerous activities.
“He also mentioned seeing of strange faces moving in and out of ‘Turi house’, which is the Islamic Centre we refer to as Kano Markaz.
“Not only that, he claimed some hoodlums were bent on setting the compound ablaze but for the timely intervention of those he described as elders of the neighborhood.
“The writer even has the temerity to call on the state government to demolish the Islamic Centre.
“We wish to state here that the Islamic Centre has been in the neighborhood for the past 13 years. In over a decade of its existence, there has never been a single report of any criminal activity by the neighbors of the centre.
“Therefore, for anybody to claim that members of the Islamic Movement are engaged in ‘dangerous activities’ is malicious, mischievous and a blatant lie.
“Upon seeing a copy of the letter, Alhaji Adamu Gobirawa, who is also a resident of the neighborhood, called the purported writer of the letter and some elders of the community to discuss the issue.
“During the meeting, it came to light that even the signatories of the letter are unaware of it. Thus it became evident that the letter was written on the instigation of those who are not even residents of Kofar Waika.
“We hereby call on the Kano state government to disregard such malicious claims perpetrated by mischief makers bent on brewing sectarian sentiments that will be detrimental to the peaceful coexistence of the state.
“The Islamic Movement for the past 40 years has been the most tolerant of all groups and associations within the Islamic community in the country, therefore for someone to associate us with violence is the peak of mischief”, he maintained.
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