The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs under the leadership of its President-General, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, has stated his displeasure on the recent plateau crisis and the disappearance of Major General Idris Alkali (rtd).
The Sultan made this known in a statement issued to the press and signed by the Deputy Secretary-General, Prof.Salisu Shehu, who lamented that it is pitiable that the Jos was once known as “a haven of peace and a pride of the nation” has become a place of “bloodbath”, anomie and violence.
The Sultan recalled how a bunch of individuals in Jos surprised humanity when they killed, burnt and ate the flesh of some Muslims several years ago during a major Islamic festival alleging that the same group is still the ones perpetrating mayhem in Jos.
It added: “It is the same terrorists that have turned Jos to a theatre of carnage again with the unbelievable discoveries being made in Lafendeg Du pond, where the car and belongings of a General of the Nigerian Army, Idris Alkali, were criminally deposited, among other traces of unimaginable horror.
“NSCIA condemns in the strongest terms the unspeakable disappearance of Major General Idris Alkali (rtd). We remonstrate the gruesome murder of several other Muslims, including Zayyanu Shallah, Manager, Department of Universal Service and Provision Fund, Nigeria Communication Commission and Jubril Mailafia, an award-winning Film Editor and Animator, in the same community.”
He further stated that life is sacred and everyone must endeavor to condemn the killing of innocent souls irrespective of whosoever that is perpetrating it or the victim.
It said: The usual silence of some self-styled religious leaders when their people are the perpetrators of crime and their cantankerous posturing and raucous cacophony when their followers are perceived as victims of mayhem smack of hypocrisy and wickedness in the sight of God and indeed in the sight of all just, fair and humane people.”
He lamented that the pond which has discovered the General’s car and “carcasses of human bodies” illustrate that the area is a “triangle of undiluted evil” where innocent travelers are “religiously profiled” and Muslims are killed and their cars buried in the bellies of “ponds”.
The statement further lamented that it is worrisome that an 18-seater bus, six motorbikes and lots of dead bodies discovered in one particular pond alone, remarking that if other ponds in the area are checked, it will be intriguing to know what obtains beneath them.
It also blast the media for their conspiracy of silence towards the issue stressing that if it was a case of “herdsmen attack” or if the missing general was a Christian, the media could have continuously kept the issue in the front burner.
It said: “In the face of this unsavory and sense-numbing development, we are dismayed and appalled that the media have chosen to remain hypocritically silent and ignominiously disinterested, understandably because, and as it has often been the case, Muslims are the victims and the perpetrators of the evil and crime are Christians. If it were to be the so-called herdsmen attack, though it is the same anarchists that often disguise as herdsmen to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it, the media would have been awash with sensational headlines, mischievous reports and obnoxious hyper-analyses. In fact, if General Alkali were a Christian, a dominant section of the media would have earned for themselves accolades for bigotry and the corrupt-souled purveyors of hate speech, masquerading men of God, would have been spitting fire and brimstone, beating the drums of war, fanning the embers of hubris and mischievously mouthing their ill-digested ‘Jihad’.
“Now, we strongly demand that the Federal Government hold the people living in the communities around the Lafendeg Du pond responsible for the disappearance of General Alkali and the ordinary civilians whose lives had been gruesomely terminated. The guilty conscience of these terrorists and cannibals had made them to use their women to attempt stopping the search of the pond. The leader of those barely-clad women and her co-travellers should be arrested immediately and investigated to determine their actual motif and culpability in the disappearance of the General and the death of others.”
It applauded the efforts of Governor Simon Bako Lalong at promoting peace in the state noting that his administration is distinguishable from the past administration.
It said: “The efforts of the Governor of Plateau State, Rt. Honourable Simon Bako Lalong, at entrenching peace and stability in Plateau State is commendable. At least, his own administration, in the last three and a half years, until the past few months, is different from what obtained in the immediate past administration in the State when the State Government was not only brazenly taking side but was also culpable in certain situations. The former Governor should be able to assist the authorities in their investigations as a federal legislator had revealed on the floor of the National Assembly, even while citing security concerns for his own life, how mercenaries and terrorists had been trained abroad by politicians to kill, plunder and massacre.”
It also appreciated the federal government for the level of progress it has achieved in addressing the security challenges of the country despite the daunting challenges it faces from the “corrupt and conflict entreprenurs” and the doggedness of the military in resolving the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the general.
The Council appreciates the Federal Government, in spite of the daunting challenges it faces from the corrupt and conflict entrepreneurs, on the appreciable progress and achievements it has recorded in addressing the various challenges of insecurity in the Country. We acknowledge the doggedness and resolve of the military in unearthing the facts surrounding the disappearance of one of their own.
It also cautioned that government must not allow the culprits to go unpunished in the name of politics as this is a litmus-test to determine how serious the government is in fighting impunity in the country and the best way to promote good governance in the society is when justice is administered.
It added: “Nations/governments do survive on justice even if they are led by infidels, but they do not survive on injustice, even if they are led by believers in God. We cannot afford to continue as a nation of actions without consequences. We, therefore, insist that in the spirit of the change mantra, the killing fields and ponds of Jos will be thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators brought to book to serve as deterrent to other terrorists.
“Nothing less is acceptable to the right-thinking and peace-loving Nigerians.”
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
