Muslim Leaders Alert Jonathan On Religious Violence

Unable to bear the continued harassment and killings that have trailed the crisis between the Shiites and the Sunnis, two Islamic sects, some Muslim leaders have called on President Goodluck Jonathan to save their souls.

According to the Islamic leaders, only the President can help them, as they are in danger of being killed following the death of some of their colleagues in mysterious circumstances in Sokoto State, northern Nigeria.

They also accused the former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa of sponsoring the Shiite Movement with the aim of destabilising the polity and peaceful coexistence in the state.

In a Save Our Soul (SOS) message to the President published in a national newspaper, the Sunni sect said they have sent two petitions within this year to the Presidency and some other agencies on the violence.

They also identified some of their leaders that have been gruesomely murdered as a result of the crisis.

According to the Sunni Movement, the former governor and his party, the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) have been arresting their members for no just cause.

“Your Excellency, the continuous threats to our lives still persists,” the group said.

The petition, signed by Sheikh Abubakar Jibril, Malams Usman Muhd, Abubakar Karfir, Bello Yabo, Bello Kofa and Abubakar Mabera, all of the Sunni Movement, stated that “at the time the Muslim Ummah in this country are earnestly waiting for the outcome of the findings of the police on those who assassinated Malam Jafar Adam, Malam Umar Dan Maishiya, the Chief Imam of Takakume Mosque in Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State and others not mentioned here, any attempt to kill another Sunni leader in any part of this country will amount to courting a monumental disaster.

The group called on all relevant government agencies to step up investigation into the activities of the Shiite as it does not believe in “medicine after death.”

“The failure of the relevant security agencies in this country to identify the killers of Sheik Jafar Adam and many others make us believe that it is always better and easier to prevent assassination than to find the assassins.”

—Eromosele Ebhomele