DELTA: NSCIA demands action as top official, Okaro, murdered on way from mosque

By KEMI KASUMU

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has announced receiving a shocking news of the gruesome murder of Mallam Musa Ugasa Okaro, its top functionary in Delta State.

The late Okaro was reportedly killed on Thursday, February 3, 2022 when he was “fatally shot directly on the head on his way back home from the masjid (mosque) after observing his night prayers.”

Until his death the fateful Thursday, the Muslim leader was said to be the Secretary of the Delta State Council for Islamic Affairs, a position he occupied with unwavering commitment to Islam and uncommon selflessness in the service of humanity.

“That his death has left a big vacuum that is difficult to fill in the Muslim ummah in Delta state specifically and Nigeria at large is a bitter reality that continues to confound us.

“We pray that the Almighty Allah forgive his sins, overlook his shortcomings, admit him to Al-jannatul Firdaws and console his family and the Muslim community left behind.

“Though as Muslims who fully and unconditionally submit to the Divine Decree, we believe that we all come from Allah and we shall all return to Him. We are also convinced that no life can end without the permission of Allah as no leaf, fresh or dry, can fall from a tree without His will.”

The council spoke through a statement with reference number: NSCIA/HQ/PRS/031/VOL.II dated Thursday 8 Rajab, 1443 A.H. equivalent to 19 February, 2022, issued in Abuja.

In the statement signed by Arc. Zubairu Haruna Usman-Ugwu its Director of Administration, the NSCIA, “under the leadership of its President-General, the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni”, described the sad event as new wave of targeting Muslim leaders for assassination in parts of the country and demanded that Nigerian Police Force and other security agencies rise to the challenge by fishing out those responsible for the murder.

“Nevertheless, the horrendous termination of a prominent Muslim leader’s life in a country with laws and a state with government speaks to the general insecurity on the one hand and the new wave of targeting Muslim leaders for assassination in some parts of the country on the other.”

According to the NSCIA, “It is public knowledge that Muslims have been subjected to all kinds of harassment, intimidation, attacks and negative stereotyping by a section of the Nigerian religious leaders and media organisations.

“Islamophobia and anti-Islamic hysteria being promoted by those who have politicised religion have now manifested in assassinating Muslim leaders as witnessed in Delta or killing peaceful Muslim protesters as witnessed at the same time in Kwara.

“More than any other time before now, Muslims are increasingly falling victim to unbridled intolerance, religious bigotry and sheer wickedness.”

The murder of Okaro happened, though unannounced, on the same day Habeeb Idris, one of students protesting against persecution of Muslim students in Oyun Baptist Grammar School, Ijagbo, Kwara State, was shot dead by thugs allegedly hired by Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), while several others sustained varied degrees of injury from the attacks.

The DEFENDER reports that CAN had asked Nigerians to blame the Kwara State government for the killing by thugs the Christian apex body was accused of hiring, without denying the allegation.

Although the government had ordered immediate closure of the school, failure of the police in the state to arrest any culprit with regard to the murder and boastfulness and nonchalant attitude displayed by the Christian Association of Nigeria’s leaders, making it look like lives of Muslims are of no value, are unsettling the Muslim Ummah of Kwara State, which warned that there would be limit to their patience if nothing quick was done.

On the latest incident, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) demanded that perpetrators of the incidents be found, arrested and prosecuted.

“While we grief-stricken as human beings on the loss of our brother, we call on the police and other security agencies to, as a matter of urgency, unravel the circumstances surrounding this tragedy and ensure that the perpetrators of the heinous act are apprehended and prosecuted.

“The Nigerian Muslim ummah believes, just like Shaykh Usman Dan Fodiyo, that conscience is an open wound, only truth can heal it. Therefore, no stone should be left unturned in expeditiously uncovering the whole truth about the murder of our dear brother and administering justice without fear or favour.

“Once again, the Council commiserates with the family of the our late brother and the Muslim ummah of Delta state while praying that the Almighty Allah illuminate and expand his grave, grant him His pleasure and admit him to Al-jannatul Firdaws,” the NSCIA said.

Senator Ifeanyi Okowa is the Governor of Delta State, where the latest murder of the Muslim leader was committed.

Efforts by The DEFENDER to get the reactions of both the governor’s spokesman and the state police public relations officer (PPRO) on the matter were not successful as at the time of filing this report Thursday afternoon.