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Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto and the President-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) weekend called on the three- tier of governments to accord Muslims ummah their right as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Sultan made the demand during the NSCIA General Assembly/Executive National Council (NEC) meeting in Benin-City, the Edo State capital.
According to him, government at all levels should treat Muslims fairly. What is due to Muslims must be given to them and when we are given what we should have, it is not a favour to us, it is our right. And we hold on to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that guarantees freedom of worship. That is why we don’t disturb anybody who wants to go and worship the way he wants.
“We must contribute to the peace of the nation. As Muslims, we are committed to the peace of this country, we are committed to the peaceful coexistence of this country. But we demand for our right always and our right must be given us.
“So when we get this done, the issue of hijab and so many other things affecting Islam, I believe is our right, not a privilege, unless the Constitution is changed.
“As Muslims, we want nothing but a very peaceful and stable Nigeria. As Muslims, we believe we must stay together as one big family as so desire by the Almighty Allah who put Nigeria together. As Muslims, we want to treat people equally, fairly and justly, equal justice to all of us. We are not asking for preference or special treatment for anybody”, he said.
While noting that Nigeria is not a secular state but multi religious state, he added that being a multi religious state, the Muslims ummahs must also allow the various religions in the country to go on.
He urged various religious faithful not to trample on each other’s right explaining that faithful must be allowed to practice he/her religion as ordered by their various inscriptions including the Holy Quran.
He also remarked that the various demands by the Muslims ummahs which included the freedom of female Muslims students to wear hijabs among others issues affecting the faithful are rights and not privilege unless the constitution was changed.
Those bad people among us, like in other religions, we should pick them out and teach them the tenets of Islam. If they refuse to change, that is their own problem. We will meet with the creator on the judgement day.
He however members of the general public not to ascribed all forms of criminalities, terrorism, insurgents and other negativities to Muslims.
“Those bad people among us, like in other religions, we should pick them out and teach them the tenets of Islam. If they refuse to change, that is their own problem. We will meet with the creator on the judgement day.
“In any society, there are many terribly bad people, so many, who are not Muslims but carry out criminal activities with some Muslim organisations either in America, France and even in Nigeria.
“Those people doing negative things should be called criminals or terrorists, but not Muslims. I’ve never heard of Christian terrorists, but we have heard of so many Christians or followers of other religions who committed heinous crimes against humanity. But they didn’t claim to do it for their religions and we did not hold them against their religions”, he added.
In his remarks, Edo state Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, who declared the Conference open, said teaching of religion in schools should be re-emphasied.
Oshiomhole added “one way to achieve peace is to create a foundation for a fair and just society.”
The Governor also canvassed for a nation where leaders’ decisions are guided and moderated by the fear of God, contending that if this was done, policies and actions of leaders would impact positively on the people.
He however urged the media to report issues in such a manner not to give mischief makers opportunity to cause crises.
