The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar lll-led Jama’atu Nasril Islam, JNI, on Tuesday faulted a former Aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, for describing killings by herdsmen across Benue, Taraba and other parts of the North, as a continuation of the late Usman Danfodio’s jihad.
The Sultan, who doubles as President General of the JNI with its headquarters in Kaduna, warned the ex-minister against taking Nigerian Muslims for granted by denigrating the Islamic community.
The JNI stated that the need for Muslims to pray for hitch-free polls in 2019 has become imperative as politicians continued to foment crisis in the land.
The JNI through its Secretary-General, Dr. Abubakar Khalid Aliyu, stated this in Kaduna on Tuesday.
Abubakar called on “Muslims to intensify prayers for peace to return to the nation and for a hitch-free 2019 general election as politicians are busy trying to cause crises with their unguarded utterances.”
He continued, “Femi Fani Kayode, one-time Minister of Aviation during the reign of President Obasanjo has always said lots of unprintable things against Shehu Danfodio.
“This rejoinder is premised on the fact that Islam does not encourage its adherents to castigate other people of faith or fabricate lies against them but encourages that once the Ummah (Society) of Islam is frequently maligned, then it is incumbent on the society to defend itself, hence the need for this write-up.
“It should be noted that the Benue State Government and the Tiv Traditional Council have overtime been yelling that the Fulani crisis at their end is a continuation of Danfodiyo’s jihad. A case in point was the 17th March, 2014 press statement with Reference Number TTC/P1/2 signed by Ber Godwin, Press Secretary to the Tor Tiv and the Tiv Area Traditional Council,” the JNI pointed out.
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