5th February, 2020
Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs on Wednesday waded into the raging apprehension in the country over the state of insecurity and the concern of Christians that they bear the brunt of attacks by kidnappers and insurgents.
In a press statement by Alhaji Yusuf Chinedozi Nwoha, deputy of administration of the NSCIA, the group called on the Buhari administration to declare a state of emergency on insecurity and it also tried to assuage the fears of Christians by debunking the notion that muslims were out to exterminate them.
On the contrary, he said some of the attacks said to have been executed by muslims against Christians were ‘false flags’ as Christians are also known historically in Nigeria to have been involved with terrorism and unless caught, their actions are blamed on muslims.
“Christians have been known to engage in terrorism in Nigeria with a view to blaming it on Muslims. Only cases of the failed ones are known. They commit murder, engage in kidnapping and resort to heinous propaganda to put Nigeria and her Muslim population on the defensive. Their media wing distorts news and skews reports to reveal and project their Islamophobia but the voiceless Muslims have Allah and He is sufficient”, NSCIA said.
“False flag operations usually get known when they fail and that was what exactly happened in Kaduna on February 2, 2020 when a Christian, Nathaniel Samuel, attempted to bomb the Living Faith Church in Kaduna the same day that a circus was being organised in Lagos. Of course, had the mission succeeded, it would have been blamed on Muslims. Rather than admit the false flag, at least the Global Research website indicates some 42 instances where officials behind false flag operations admitted them, so-called religious leaders started to peddle shameful lies, concocting interviews and giving a fictitious name to a Christian pastor. They have some lousy misfits with dented image and corruption charges in the public space seeking to confuse the dimwitted until Facebook profiles, father’s confirmation of identity and statements of those who know the terrorist Pastor, Samuel, burst their lies. Rather than apologise to the nation, they shamelessly resort to empty rhetoric now remembering that names do not matter and terrorists have no religion!
“The Internet does not forget the following instances, out of many failed terrorist acts and false flag operations that would have been blamed on Muslims in Nigeria if they had succeeded.
1. Mr John Alaku Akpavan, a Christian, was arrested on June 5, 2011 while attempting to bomb the Radio House, opposite the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
2. Ms Lydia Joseph, a Christian from Bauchi State and failed bomber of St John Catholic Cathedral, attempted to carry out her terrorist act on September 12, 2011.
3. A Christian indigene of Akwa Ibom State, Augustine Effiong, carried out a bomb attack on Bayero University, Kano, on April 29, 2012.
4. Emmanuel King, a Christian who disguised his religious identity by dressing like a Muslim, was arrested while attempting to bomb the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on December 28, 2011.
5. Christian traders of Igbo extraction gunned down a dozen fellow Igbo businessmen inside the Christ Apostolic Church, Adamawa State, on January 6, 2012.
6. Madam Ruth, a Christian, attempted to bomb the ECWA Church, Kalaring Kaltingo, in Gombe State on March 12, 2012
7. Some eight Christians were arrested in Bauchi in an attempt to bomb COCIN Church on February 26, 2012. Another Christian bomber was lynched same day (February 26, 2012) while attempting to escape after bombing COCIN Church in Jos.
8. Jonathan Gyanet, a Christian police officer, was arrested while attempting to bomb ERCC Church in Akwanga Nasarawa State on April 20, 2014.
Nwoha then went further to delink Boko Haram from muslims.
“We want to state in unequivocal terms, and for the umpteenth time, that Boko Haram does not represent Islam or Muslims. The group and the enemies of Islam hiding behind its mask are pursuing a rogue, venal and doggy agenda far removed from Islam. It is therefore the height of insincerity, wickedness, falsehood and hypocrisy to suggest that Boko Haram is a ploy to eliminate Christians, a dummy being promoted by some dealers camouflaging as religious leaders to their followers and the outside world.
“It is incontrovertible that more Muslims, including Imams, have been slaughtered, displaced and dismembered than Christians since Boko Haram became what it is: a hydra-headed monster. Indeed, more mosques have been bombed or destroyed in the bloody campaign, which has consumed precious lives including those of our professors. To suggest that Christians are killed because they refuse to embrace Islam stands logic on its head. Were Muslim scholars and individuals killed in mosques, market squares and villages killed because they refused to denounce Islam?’, NSCIA said.
“In September, 2018, a prominent Muslim General was murdered in cold blood and his body was dragged to an abandoned mining pit filled with water in Dura-Du District of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State. The vicious Christian community that perpetrated the dastardly act then mobilised its shameless and barely clad women who protested unsuccessfully against emptying the pond in which the general’s remains and his car were found. We never generalised by accusing Christians in Nigeria of murdering Muslims or turned the unsavoury development to a Muslim-Christian brouhaha. We rather called for the arrest and prosecution of the irresponsible women and those who committed the murder. Nothing concrete has been done against the community till date, a reflection of the selective justice usually at play against Muslims”.
NSCIA claimed that some of the terrorist attacks in Nigeria, attributed to Boko Haram are mere false flags, done by other sinister groups with the intention of hanging it on Boko Haram.
“Some terrorist acts attributed to Boko Haram are not more than false flag operations by the irredentist political and self-righteous anti-Islamic religious associations in Nigeria, who are all out to discredit the government or Muslims by hook means or crook and provoke foreign occupation of the country. To them, the country should just be occupied by the foreign forces just because they no longer have access to dollar and arms-carrying private jets to South Africa and state-sponsored visits to Jerusalem. That is why everything must be reported to their American agents and they celebrate their achievements whenever Nigeria is negatively mentioned in some infamous foreign lists fabricated to weaken sovereign nations.
“False flag operations usually get known when they fail and that was what exactly happened in Kaduna on February 2, 2020 when a Christian, Nathaniel Samuel, attempted to bomb the Living Faith Church in Kaduna the same day that a circus was being organised in Lagos. Of course, had the mission succeeded, it would have been blamed on Muslims. Rather than admit the false flag, at least the Global Research website indicates some 42 instances where officials behind false flag operations admitted them, so-called religious leaders started to peddle shameful lies, concocting interviews and giving a fictitious name to a Christian pastor. They have some lousy misfits with dented image and corruption charges in the public space seeking to confuse the dimwitted until Facebook profiles, father’s confirmation of identity and statements of those who know the terrorist Pastor, Samuel, burst their lies. Rather than apologise to the nation, they shamelessly resort to empty rhetoric now remembering that names do not matter and terrorists have no religion!
No Nigerian must die needlessly in Nigeria again. Government should urgently deploy intelligence to uncovering the sponsors, beneficiaries and perpetrators of insecurity in our dear country so that we shall not just be chasing shadows. Enough is enough
NSCIA advised the Christian Association of Nigeria to stop playing the blame game on insecurity.
“Rather than playing the blame game or playing to the gallery as ethnic irredentists and religious bigots are wont to do, what is important is to support government to eliminate insecurity in Nigeria. There is no doubt that there is a strong link among poverty, the relentless anti-corruption Tsunami and persistent insecurity in the country. That is why we are asking Government to up the ante of their efforts and give enough teeth to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to bite and alleviate the pains of those who are poor, distressed and displaced. In other words, we urge Government to provide enough resources for the Ministry to actualise the needed interventions in making life more meaningful to the disadvantaged and the unemployed with the hope that insecurity would also be addressed through this means.
“We reiterate that the Federal Government should act decisively now by declaring a state of emergency on insecurity and deploying all the security and military arsenal at its disposal to arrest the trend. Nigerians are dying needlessly to the satisfaction of the evil-minded political profiteers, ethnic irredentists and pseudo-religious agitators disguising as religious leaders. All hands must be on deck to arrest this ugly trend given that the primary purpose of government is the security of life and property of the governed. We equally urge the Federal Government to review and reinvent its security architecture by injecting more vim into security operations all over the country without further delay.
“No Nigerian must die needlessly in Nigeria again. Government should urgently deploy intelligence to uncovering the sponsors, beneficiaries and perpetrators of insecurity in our dear country so that we shall not just be chasing shadows. Enough is enough!