If Leah Sharibu dies in Boko Haram’s den, you are part of the cause, Sultan speaks tough over CAN’s “unguarded comments”

*Says, “We pray for her safe return” but Christian group helping captors achieve aim of causing religious war

*Threatens to denounce NUJ’s Fellowship if members don’t’ stop misleading reportage

*Urges media to save Nigeria from impending collapse by stopping being inimical to nation’s peace, unity

“Did the Muslims connive with Boko Haram to abduct the girls and release others? No. For them to now make that comment that if she dies in the hands of Boko Haram there will be a religious war is very unfair.  How could you start attacking Muslims because this innocent girl happened to be a victim of murderous terrorists? It means the insurgents are winning the war because that is what they want.  If they hear about this and went and kill the innocent girl, that means you are part and parcel of what make them to do that because they want to cause confusion in the country.”

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has cautioned the leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) against its incessant fanning of embers of war in the country as he says the Nigerian Christian leaders should stop making unguarded utterances that could make terrorists win their war against the Nigerian State.

The monarch, who was reacting on behalf of Nigerian Muslims, spoke against the backdrop of reports credited to the nation’s Christian body that: “If Leah Sharibu dies in the hands of Boko Haram, there is going to be a religious war in the country.”

The Sultan was profound in his warning ringing it clearly to the hearing of the Christian leaders that they should hold themselves responsible should the captors of the “innocent girl” hear what they are saying and they go ahead and kill her being that it is what the CAN is calling for (confusion) that the insurgents actually want to achieve.

The CAN four days ago was reported in the media to have threatened doomsday for Nigeria should Sharibu, said to be the only Christian girl among the 112 students kidnapped from Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, by Boko Haram insurgents on February 19, die in the hands of her captors.

Although most of the other girls later regained freedom, Sharibu was held back for refusing to denounce Christianity and, The DEFENDER’s findings revealed, the news about Sharibu’s refusal to denounce Christianity was only learned from the CAN leadership who celebrated her as “Hero of Nigerian Christian Community” with Primate Ola Makinde declaring scholarship for the little girl while even the number of girls expected by government were still being awaited based on success of the Administration’s negotiation with the abductors.

The Christian leaders’ attitude publicising a defeat of Boko Haram by a 15 years old girl still in captivity saying she is Christian hero for daring Boko Haram at that moment when the Federal Government had achieved success in its negotiation with the Boko Haram insurgents to get all the school girls released without hurting any of them including Leah Sharibu has been blamed in some quarters for the trigger of Boko Haram’s holding back of the girl whose parents have remained in perpetual sorrow since then without even the CAN leaders being able to do anything other than threatening to set Nigeria at war should she die in the hands of her captors.

It would be recalled that Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant on Media and Communications to the CAN President, was reported in Punch to have said that there will be doom in Nigeria if Sharibu dies.

Oladeji was quoted as saying: “Recently, CAN called out its members to demand for her release. We have addressed a press conference calling for her release. At every opportunity any church leader has to speak to the public, they demand her release.

“We are doing a lot of things we cannot be disclosing to the public. Our concern includes the silence of the media and the civil society organisations thinking Leah Sharibu is a CAN affair. How many editorials have been written about her plight?

“CAN will not cease the agitation for the release of all the abductees, including Leah Sharibu. Let all and sundry rise up against the failure of the security agencies and ask President Muhammadu Buhari to wake up from his slumber before the terrorists and herdsmen finish the country.

“Leah Sharibu must not die. Her death, God forbids, can spell doom for Nigeria. It can give an open invitation to religious war because Leah is being detained purely because of her religion.”

But speaking while addressing resident communities, heads of security agencies, religious leaders and journalists during a Ramadan breakfast dinner in his Palace in Sokoto, Monday night, the leader of Muslims of Nigeria, Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar III cautioned the Christian leaders against making utterances capable of plunging the country into religious war.

He described such utterances as very unfair, condemning such CAN’s leadership utterances as wrong to tag one particular religion and ethnic group in the country as criminal instead of joining in collectively finding solution to collective security challenges in the country and insisting that terrorism has no religion or ethnicity.

The Sultan wondered how Muslims would connive with the Boko Haram insurgents to abduct school girls.

“Did the Muslims connive with Boko Haram to abduct the girls and release others? No. For them to now make that comment that if she dies in the hands of Boko Haram there will be a religious war is very unfair.

“How could you start attacking Muslims because this innocent girl happened to be a victim of murderous terrorists? It means the insurgents are winning the war because that is what they want.

“If they hear about this and went and kill the innocent girl, that means you are part and parcel of what make them to do that because they want to cause confusion in the country. We are all praying for her safe return and for the safety of every Nigerian irrespective of his or her religion,” he said.

The monarch noted that more Muslims were killed by Boko Haram than Christians, which even the former President Goodluck Jonathan had acknowledged in the past.

The Sultan urged the media to save this country from impending violence and imminent collapse.

According to him, some of the media reports were inimical to the nation’s peace and unity.

He expressed dismay that some media outlets including the social media post unverified reports and gory pictures to create tension in the country.

The Sultan, who is Leader of over 90 million Muslims of Nigeria, cited one picture of Fulani herdsmen holding G4 riffle used by some media organisations to portray attacks on innocent Nigerians as uncalled for because the picture, according to him, was that of herders in the Central African Republic which had been in existence for over 20 years.

“There is no G4 riffle because it had been wiped away for long. That picture being used particularly by the Channels TV was that of herders in the Central African Republic,  who were being terrorised by rustlers because cattle rustling started in their country long before coming to Nigeria,” he said.

Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, a retired General, therefore threatened to denounce his fellowship of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in protest against misleading and unverified stories aired or published by their members.

He however stressed that the clashes between herdsmen and farmers were purely economic but being hijacked by some criminal elements.

The monarch said those killing innocent people, especially in the Middle Belt, were criminals who should be arrested and punished.

“You don’t arrest or kill innocent Fulani men just like what had happened in Benue State when innocent Fulanis who were on transit were stopped and killed by some residents of the state,” he cautioned.

He expressed worry  that the killings could continue because some politicians would want to use it to have an edge over their political opponents.

The Sultan called on Nigerians to be vigilant and endeavour to expose criminals in their midst, even if they are their fathers and brothers.

“We should all see ourselves as security personnel.  Let us not leave them alone. Don’t hide criminals even if they are your fathers and brothers. Because too much blood had been shed and this is why God is angry with us.

“I believe there are more good people than the bad ones. Let the good ones come together and defeat the bad ones. We have done that while fighting malaria and we can do it again,” he said.

He stressed the need for more effective tools and welfare for security agents, saying they are working round the clock to restore peace in the country.