Northerners
resident in Abia State have called upon Governor Chief Theodore Orji to caution
the people of the state against calling their northern counterparts Boko Haram
since not all northerners support the violent sect.Also, the people appealed to
the Governor and the security agents in the area to particularly call to order
one Pastor Jubril John, who, they accused of going about insulting Islam and
inciting the Igbo against the northerners in Aba, insisting that his negative
utterances, if not checked, could cause serious trouble between Christians and
Muslims in Aba.
The Northerners who spoke through the Chief Imam of Aba Central
Mosque, Alhaji Idris Bashir yesterday said they believed that, as the overall
leader of the state, if Governor Orji talked to the people, they would listen
and stop their untoward attitudes and actions towards their Muslim neighbours
in the area.He said notwithstanding that northerners in the area have gone to
public places, using the mass media to inform their hosts that they are not
members of the sect, and would not want to associated with them, the ugly trend
of calling them members of the sect has not stopped. To demonstrate
their anger for being called Boko Haram when they know that they are not
members of the sect, Alhaji Bashir said the Muslims embarked on a three days
strike which was later called off after the intervention of the Police Area
Commander in Aba.
“The strike was
to show the nation that we are not happy how Muslims are being handled here in
Aba, Abia State,” he said.He said there
are northerners who have lived in Aba for the past 60 years and could not be
associated with any crime or fomenting trouble in any way, hence it was wrong
for the Igbo to start branding all their northern counterparts as Boko
Haram.“They have started abusing our people in Aba in such places as St. Pauls
Hospital; Opposite Aba Town Hall, Azikiwe Road By Adazi, and other places,” he
alleged.Also, the Chief Imam alleged that since soldiers at Aba arrested 486
northerners traveling to the south-east and south-south zones, a certain
pastor, Jubril John, who speaks all the major languages in Nigeria, has been
going about preaching hatred, attempting to incite the Igbo Christians against
the Muslims in Aba.
He said leaders
of northerners resident in Aba would visit the Chairman of the Christian Association
of Nigeria (CAN) Aba Chapter to register their complaints officially concerning
the activities of Pastor Jubril John.“The funny thing is that there is one Igbo
pastor who speaks Hausa, Igbo,Yoruba fluently. He has plenty of Islamic books
and he preaches in the open. He goes to Ariara Market area, Jubilee Road,
Cameroon Road and all those places he knows there is concentration of Muslims
to make anti-Islam preaching,” the Chief Imam further alleged.
SOURCE: http://primechronicle.com/
Ok. Noted!
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