Islamic Cleric, Wife Abducted

Kazeem Ugbodaga & Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta

An Islamic Cleric, Ustadh AbdulGaniy Jumah, has been abducted at gunpoint by yet to be identified people at his residence on Fagbemi Street, off Ntabo bus stop, Ijoko, near Sango in Ado-Odo/Ota Local  Government Area of Ogun State, southwest Nigeria.

It was gathered that the Cleric was whisked away alongside his wife Shakirah.

Our correspondent was informed that the couple were abducted  by suspected soldiers at about 3 a.m. when they were preparing for the day’s mid morning meal, Sahr, in the ongoing Ramadan fasting..

Meanwhile, Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has called for the immediate release of the Islamic scholar and his wife.

In a statement signed by MURIC Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, the group charged Nigerian security agents to produce the Islamic scholar and his wife whose abduction has started creating tension among Muslims in the southwest.

“We remind the security agents that nothing warrants such night invasion since there is no state of emergency in the region. We demand the immediate release of the Muslim couple or their arraignment in court within 48 hours of arrest according to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We suspect that this may be the beginning of a crackdown on scholars of Islam in Yorubaland in particular and the whole Southern Nigeria in general as part of the silent war on Islam in Western-dominated parts of the world. Our suspicion is informed by the allegation that another Lagos-based Islamic scholar also disappeared last week. The miraculous disappearance of Razaq Gawat, a very popular Lagos-based Islamic socialite and televangelist is yet to be explained since about 14 months ago,” MURIC said.

According to the group, “it is on record that millions of Muslims were killed in former Yugoslavia in the 90s. Muslims in Myanmar (formerly Burma) were burned in public and their homes destroyed in 2013. Anti-Balaka Christian militants also recently hunted down, slaughtered or roasted hundreds of Muslims in the Central African Republic. In July this year, China banned fasting among Muslims. A blind, intolerant and anti-Muslim climate pervades the globe.

“Yet while everybody is talking about peace, nobody is talking about justice. MURIC reminds Nigerian authorities that justice is the soul of peace. The same natural law of justice which stipulates that nobody can eat his cake and have it provides that nobody can deny one (justice) and still enjoy the other (peace).

“The ongoing massacre of Muslims by Nigeria’s Boko Haram may be an orchestrated campaign being waged by unscrupulous elements in disguise with the aim of drastically reducing the population of Muslims in the country.”

MURIC cautioned Nigerian security agencies to desist from taking actions capable of generating tension, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Jumah and his wife, Shakirah.

“They should be charged to a competent court of law if they are suspected of committing any crime. Nonetheless, we are not foreclosing the possibility of the abductors being operatives of any other criminal group but the onus is on Nigerian security agents to find the Muslim couple.

“We alert the Ogun State Government to this dangerous development. We appeal to Ogun State House of Assembly and the National Assembly to wade into the matter. The people’s representatives must show concern when innocent citizens start disappearing. Meanwhile, we call on Muslims throughout the country to remain calm and law-abiding,” it added.