The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has asked Nigerians
not to label Muslims as criminals due to the activities of Boko Haram
insurgents in the North East, saying Boko Haram was not an Islamic group.
Abubakar spoke as the Governor of
Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, said the claims by Christians and Muslims that
nobody could go to heaven except through Jesus Christ, or Prophet Mohammed,
respectively, was the major cause of religious extremism or intolerance in the
country.
They spoke at the first Annual
Conference of Ahlus-Sunnah of Nigeria at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos,
yesterday.
The conference was attended by prominent Nigerians including Vice President
Mohammed Namadi Sambo; former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari; Governor Ramalan
Yero of Kaduna State; Aregbesola; Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu
Waziri Tambuwal; Sultan Abubakar; former Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed; Senator Idris Umar, and some ministers. Also
in attendance was a representative of the President of Niger Republic.
Speaking at the conference, Sultan
Abubakar said those who referred to Boko Haram as an Islamic sect were unfair
to Muslims as the group comprised of criminals who were carrying terrorist
activities against the country.
According to him, ‘’Those terrorizing us are not Muslims. They are terrorists.
People should not be referring to them as an Islamic sect. They are agents of
insurrection.’’
Abubakar said Nigeria was not a
secular country but is a multi-religious society, adding that Muslims should
seek to live according to the dictates of their religion.
Other speakers blamed injustice, poverty and ignorance as major causes of
disunity in the country. They said there was nothing uniting a very poor man
with an extremely rich person, as both groups were in two separate worlds.
Aregbesola, one of the guest
speakers, quoted copiously from the Q’uran to buttress his point that Islam was
a religion of peace. He said that what obtained in Yoruba as regards the
healthy relationship between Muslims and Christians should be emulated by
people in other parts of the country.
Buhari who also spoke, said the panacea for peace included security and good
management of the country’s resources.
’’When Obafemi Awolowo was in the
Western Region and Saduana of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello was in the North, there were
no religious crises because they managed the resources well. Awolowo was a
Christian and he established the Muslims Welfare Board. May God Almighty give
us a leader that can deliver in 2015,’’ the former head of state said.
In his remarks, Vice President Sambo
said the conference, held under the theme,“Peace and Unity for Sustainable
Development”, could not have come at a better time than this period,
because of the security challenges facing the country.
Sambo said the recent anti-gay rights bill, which was signed into law, has
further demonstrated that religion has taken its proper place in the country.
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