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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
There was an outburst from the Supreme Council for Shari’a in Nigeria (SCSN) recently, regarding the style of governance of President Bola Tinubu.
SCSN Secretary General, Malam Nafiu Baba-Ahmad, threatened “unfriendly” actions against the president because of his unfriendly treatment of Muslim community who worked for his victory in 2023 general elections.
In an interview with Sunday Sun, Malam Ahmad, said that Muslim would work against the president’s re-election in 2027 if things continue the way they are now.
He also lamented the increasing economic hardship and frustrations in the country, and challenged the president to rise to the occasion to avoid unfriendly actions from Nigerians.
Why the recent outburst against President Tinubu?
The outburst was because the Muslim community in Nigeria is not happy with the President and his style of governance. From all indications, the President is working for the interest of the Christian community instead of the Muslim community that worked for his emergence as President despite several opposition from his people and even his political party.
What exactly are your disappointments in President Tinubu’s administration vis-a-vis the same faith ticket?
The disappointment arose largely because it appears that people and organizations that never supported the Muslim-Muslim ticket during the elections are the ones that are being offered strategic positions in the government, while those that believed in the same faith ticket, even when the candidate (Tinubu) was showing weakness and lack of opportunity, when the family and political party were against it, we stood by the ticket and worked for the victory at the polls, are now being sidelined for whatever reason. This is not fair by any standard or yardstick. It’s immoral and unfair.
Was it these concerns the reason for the recent conference in Abuja?
It’s part of the reason for the conference. However, the main purpose of the conference was to provide the Muslim organizations and leaders the opportunity to come together to discuss the coordinated step they took to support the Muslim/Muslim ticket in the 2023 general elections and its outcome. It was an opportunity to review the matters that arose from the election, and seek opportunity to provide opportunity for people to ventilate their grievances. There are lots of issues and more are being collated from our people across the country. There are lots of frustrations and disappointment from our people who, wholeheartedly, supported the Tinubu emergence. Sadly, the actions of this current administration so far are disappointing to us.
You mean there is not positive side so far?
There is positive side to the government, but the negative side is overwhelming the positive side. It’s like a coin that has two sides. But the negative side seems to have swallowed the positive because of the growing frustrations in the country, and disappointment we have seen in the actions of the president. However, we are making suggestions on what the president can do especially as regards improvement in the welfare of the people as relates to harsh economic realities in the country, in addition to lots of other life-threatening security issues being witnessed across the country.
You have expressed frustrations on the government. What should the president do to pacify the Muslim community?
The president is not amenable to advice. I will advise that he returns to his constituency, which is the Muslim community. This is because he will come back next time, probably next four years, which is not too far from now. And if things don’t change for good and interest of the Muslim community promoted very well, when he returns to seek our support for re-election, we would openly reject him, wholeheartedly.
Will you vote for him in 2027?
Never! The Muslim community won’t be fooled the second time by people like Tinubu. If I am alive I will work against his re-election in 2027.
There are concerns about the rise of fake Islamic scholars who are misleading Muslims through their uninformed preaching. Are you bothered?
I am bothered, but I refuse to call them fake scholars. I will prefer to call them half-baked/self-appointed scholars. The reason is that some of them might mean well, but you can’t teach or give what or knowledge that you don’t have. Because they are half-baked, they engage in garbage in, garbage out. It’s more of a case of addressing half-baked scholars assuming for themselves the role of accomplished scholars or acting as such. It’s a reminder to everybody that there’s need to have the fear of God in whatever they do. This is because, scholars are the successors of the Holy Prophet, and their standard must be higher than ordinary person in the society. So, they need to be reminded of the burden on their shoulders and the need to maintain the high standard that is expected of them.
What negative impact have they contributed to the society?
It has more to do with friction among the people. In Islam, there’s what is called “Nasiha,” which means to admonish an individual with a view to correcting the actions of such person. But it’s not proper to do such things in the open, especially to someone of high status in the society. Islam recommends that you visit such person and speak to the person privately. You are expected to speak to the person in a way that he or she will not see your actions as if you are challenging him or her. But that is if the plan is to reform and reinvent. But that has not been the case with these set of people I described as half-baked scholars. They choose to use social media platforms to speak to people in the authority, perhaps, because it’s an unregulated platform. That’s completely wrong and sends wrong message to the persons being targeted, and in some cases, defeat the original aim of the action. That’s mainly the area that these set of scholars are getting it wrong. Another thing is that these people dabble into judicial or political issues even when they have little or no knowledge about the law. For instance, some scholars are very well informed about Islamic issues, but are not well informed about happenings in the society.
There was also the issue of LGBTQ that is increasingly penetrating deep into society. It was one of the topics of discussion at the conference…
Yes, it was, and that was a result of the concerns that the Muslim community and leaders have as regards the threats of LGBTQ to humanity. The issue of LGBTQ has gone beyond what we think it is. However, we would continue to talk about it to sensitize our people. We decided to add our voices to the issue because its effects are facing us and our children squarely. LGBTQ is one of obnoxious and wicked ideas conceived by man since the creation of Adam. Unfortunately, the Western World is championing, promoting and supporting this evil act against humanity. The Western World has abandoned religion and has practically embraced satanism. This idea, unfortunately, originated from Jewish Zionist, who in their book, believed that humanity should be returned to original form which was neither male nor female. They want to push this evil idea to the world. Sadly, they are blackmailing and forcing governments, particularly from developing countries, to accept this devilish idea. To this end, It’s time for us to discharge our responsibilities as religious leaders, sensitize and educate our communities and people on the tricky ways these people are using to propagate this evil act. The Western World is pushing this in a subtle way, through cartoons, books and other materials, to make it easier for them to accept the agenda.
Is their any tool or skills for religious leaders to identify these things and tackle them?
Generally, what is required is consistent enlightenment of our people. This will make them know that there’s a problem of LGBTQ around the corner and it’s real, and gradually penetrating deep into the society. Unfortunately, these people are using every means to push this challenge to the developing countries. So, people should be on guard, and watch their children closely, and protect them from these things that have been designed to lure them in this evil act. It may be difficult in more liberated world with different unregulated social media platforms, but do your best to protect these children. It’s God that guides, but we need to do our best as humans.
