Business
Sultan Wants Ethno-Religious Crisis Resolved
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has appealed to the Federal Government to proffer a permanent solution to the ethno-religious crisis in some parts of the country to ensure sustainable peace.
Abubakar made the call on Friday at the fifth Annual General Conference of Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria (MULAN), in Kaduna, saying: “Islam is a peaceful religion that is promoting the cause of unity, tolerance and not violence.”
He said groups which had deviated from these principles of the faith were not practising the true teachings of Prophet Mohammed and Islam but acting for personal gains.
The Sultan said Muslims were being victimised because of the activities and actions of few people, who claimed to be part of the Muslim community but whose activities were alien to the context of Islamic religion.
He urged the association to use its position to defend and protect the good image and rights of Muslims and Islam in Nigeria.
Earlier, the National President of the association, Alhaji Tajuddeen Oladoja, said the primary objective of the conference was to articulate appropriate strategies for the promotion and protection of fundamental rights and interest of Muslims in Nigeria.
He said MULAN was carrying out the task by identifying rights of Muslims in the context of law and judicial process in Nigeria.
Oladojasaid MULAN frowned at the non establishment of Shariah courts in by state governments in southern Nigeria.
He appealed to the Federal Government to hasten efforts in establishing Shariah courts in the southern states to ensure the adjudication of certain Islamic personal matters relating to marriage, divorce, inheritance, paternity among others.
The president said the association had joined the labour movement and other bodies to oppose the removal of oil subsidy.
“We are warning the government that the indices that gave rise to the uprising in North Africa and the Arab world are everywhere in Nigeria,” he said.
The MULAN president, however, commended the Senate on its landmark unanimous passage of the bill which outlawed same sex marriage in the country.