The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) says there is an urgent need to raise
the bar of leadership in Nigeria beyond basic qualifications to address the challenge of poor quality leadership facing the country.
The NSCIA made the call in a communique issued at the end of a special extraordinary meeting of its Expanded General Purpose Committee (EGPC) held in Abuja on December 28.
The communique was supposed signed by Prof. Is-haq O. Oloyede,
Secretary General, NSCIA
and Architect Zubairu Haruna Usman-Ugwu, Director of Administration, NSCIA
The meeting was called
with a view to appraising the state of the Ummah, considering the reports of its various committees and taking a position on the 2023general elections.
It said Nigerians need to evolve a standard process of electing not only “eligible candidates but also
suitable ones because the eligibility criteria are too general to the extent that unsuitable people ultimately get elected to the positions of authority.”
The meeting was presided over by the President-General of NSCIA and Sultan of Sokoto, His
Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar IV.
The council also insisted that Nigerians should be allowed to freely choose the best candidates and vote those who will lead with justice, fairness and righteousness in the coming general elections.
This, the communique said was in line with NSCIA’s usual prayer, “O Allah, make the best of us our
leaders, and don’t make the worst of us our leaders. Don’t make us, on account of our sins,
be under those who will neither fear you nor be compassionate to us.”
However, it, called for the creation of enabling necessary environment through adequate voter mobilisation and
appropriate security measures.
Other resolutions at the meeting according to the communique are that ” Muslims should collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) as evidence has revealed that
many Muslims who registered are yet to collect their cards.
“More Muslims should establish private universities for the educational development of Nigeria as a whole and Islam in particular because Muslim students in some private universities owned by non-Muslims are being subjected to religious victimisation and
oppression.
“The Supreme Court of Nigeria had affirmed the legality, legitimacy and rights of Muslims to
hijab in compliance with Section 38, Subsection 1 of the Nigerian Constitution (as amended
in 2011) which states, “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion…(either alone or in community with others, and in public and or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching practice and observance.”
“Therefore, Muslim women should feel free to wear their hijab and no person or institution should discriminate against them.
“The Committee condemned the negative activities of accidental Imams’ and ‘emergency
Sheikhs’ who promote hatred, disunity and dissension in their mosques and on the social media.
“The Committee also warned Muslims to be wary of their antics as they do not represent Islam or Muslims.
“The Committee called on the federal government to make available financial empowerment
opportunities in the country and thereby tackle the challenges of poverty and unemployment in the society.
“It also enjoined Muslims to key into the available opportunities.
“As Muslims are being profiled and killed in what appears as ethno-religious cleansing in the
South East by some non-Muslims which is evident in the recent confessions by some individuals, the Committee called on security agencies to do more to protect the lives and properties of Muslims and bring the perpetrators of such killings to justice.
“The Committee expressed serious concern about the general insecurity manifesting in
terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and ritual killings all over country.
“It also called on the federal
and state governments to work harder on securing Nigeria from the rampaging criminals.”
The Committee commended the leadership of its President-General and Sultan of Sokoto, the
two Deputies President-General, the Secretary General and the Secretariat in representing and defending the interest of the Nigerian Muslim community.
It expressed utter shock over the death of some Muslim sisters who
were involved in a ghastly accident in Shagamu, Ogun state, while on their way to a training
programme.
“The Committee commiserated with the late sisters’ families, their organisation and the Muslim ummah at large while praying that Allah admit the deceased to Aljannah Firdaos and grant the injured complete recovery.”
It directed all Muslims to pray fervently to the Almighty Allah for peace, security and wellbeing of Nigeria and for the success of the 2023 elections and the population census.
The meeting was attended by Muslim leaders across the country including the Deputy President General, NSCIA (South), Alh. Rasaki Oladejo; Secretary General, NSCIA, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alh. Yayale Ahmed, CFR; the Secretary-General of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Dr. Khalid Aliyu; the Executive Secretary of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN),
Prof. Muslih T. Yahaya; many Senior Advocates of Nigeria; senior Academics; traditional Rulers; top executives; other eminent personalities and leaders of Islamic organisations from different parts of the country
(vitalnewsngr.com)
