The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has reacted to the recent kidnap of some Muslim children from Kano, who were allegedly converted to Christians in Onitsha, Anambra State and later sold as slaves.
In a statement signed by its Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, the Islamic group condemned the action as wicked and reprehensible. It reads in part: “It is such a big shame that some Christian fanatics will live among us only for the purpose of abducting our children, converting them to Christianity and selling them into slavery. Kidnapping for Christ is disgusting, nauseating, wicked and reprehensible.
“We see it as an extension of the ‘Nigeria for Christ’ slogan. Christian evangelists are no longer satisfied with their illegal taking over of commercial vehicles where they scream over the heads of peaceful and law-abiding Nigerians going or coming from work. The overnight vigils where they raise noise level beyond 100 decibels are not enough for them.
“They are now stealing our children as the latter emerge from their Islamiyyah schools. Why do they hate us so much? Why do they pretend to be our neighbours? An open declaration of hostilities would have been better because it would have alerted us to the fact that we are living in the midst of foes.”
“Nonetheless, MURIC will not allow emotion to becloud its intervention in this sensitive and ugly development. We are aware that not all Christians are involved in this criminal behavior. Many adherents of Christianity are decent and peace-loving. Such Christians will never decend so low as to seize, convert and sell Muslim children,” it added.
The group noted that kidnapping of Muslim children had been going on for some times, but was only exposed by the Kano incident. “We have every reason to contend that the Kano 9 imbroglio is not the first. The systematic abduction of Muslim children has been going on long before 2014. These Christian kidnappers are methodical and meticulous. They study the environment for some time and plan their escape routes with microscopic accuracy,” MURIC declared.
It urged the security agencies to rise up to their responsibility of protecting the religious rights of every citizen, while also charging good Muslims and good Christians to expose the evil ones among them for peaceful coexist of all.