The Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs has warned the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, against holding any form of talks with the dreaded Boko Haram sect until he receives an official approval from the Federal Government.
The apex body of Muslims in the country fears that the Sultan might be blackmailed by the government if he goes ahead to negotiate with the terrorist group, especially on the over 200 pupils of Government Girls’ Secondary School abducted by the sect on April 14, without an official consent.
The council warned that the Islamic leader should not be hoodwinked into making such moves by those calling for his intervention in the insurgency by the sect.
“The Muslim community had always been taking action; it had always been appealing to the people (Boko Haram) but Muslim leaders are also cautious because in your process to go out to look for these people; if in the process you’re caught talking with them, the government can even turn against you and say you’re part of part of Boko Haram.”
Some Islamic elite, under the aegis of Concerned Muslim Professionals, had written to the Sultan earlier in July, asking him to lead the dialogue with the Boko Haram sect.
The group told the monarch, who is the President-General of the NSCIA, to use his position and engage members of the sect in dialogue that would make them stop their campaign of killings.
Similarly, a human rights activist based in the North and President, Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Shehu Sani, had earlier in May asked the Sultan to spearhead the moves to secure the release of the abducted pupils from the group’s captivity.
Sani, in a letter to the religious leader, had said, “You (Sultan) have a moral duty and a spiritual responsibility to be visibly and actively involved in seeking the resolution of this impasse happening within areas you have religious influence.”
But the Secretary-General of the NSCIA, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, while speaking to Punch on Thursday, warned that the Sultan should not be hoodwinked into taking up the task of negotiating with the terrorists.
He said, “No matter the level of the Muslim leader, he has to think twice before he begins to communicate with these people (sect) because the same government that you want to work for can turn against you and accuse you of complicity; and you will be on your own.
“They (government) have enough machinery to present you as a devil such that members of your family will believe that you’re a devil.”
When asked if such could be done to the Sultan, the professor insisted that the Islamic leader could be implicated without the backing of the government, especially at a time when “many of us are being unduly monitored.”
He added, “I am not the Sultan but fortunately the Sultan has dual status; traditionally, he is the Sultan of Sokoto; religiously, he is the leader of the Muslim community. I relate with him as far as his mandate as the leader of the Muslim community is concerned.
“In that capacity, I will not advise him to hold any unilateral action with the sect without having the full confidence of the government of the day. If anybody makes such calls, somebody like the Sultan should think twice before venturing into searching for people you do not know.”
Oloyede asked why the Federal Government kept the findings by the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, which was chaired by the Minister of Special Duties, Taminu Turaki.
“I believe that by now, as Muslims leaders, we should have access to the findings; we don’t. We are just working in darkness. By now, even if the report had not been released, we should have had access to it. Then, we will be able to have some clues to what is happening,” the NSCIA scribe stated.
Don’t Negotiate for Chibok Girls, Muslims warn Sultan of Sokoto
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