Muslim group accuses CAN of using herdsmen disaster to destabilise Nigeria

Jama’atu Nasir Islam (JNI) which is led by Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has accused the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) of using killings and attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen to destabilise Nigeria.

The Muslim group said that the manner the Christian body has been reacting to the issue of herdsmen attack was nothing but its agenda to overheat the polity ahead of the 2019 general elections in the country.

JNI Secretary General, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, stated this on Sunday, while reacting to a recent statement credited to CAN Secretary General, Dr. Jonathan Asake.

Asake had at a recent press conference frowned at the Federal Government’s poor handling of the Benue State killings allegedly carried out by some Fulani herdsmen. He had also questioned the constitutionality of certain actions of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

However, in his response, Aliyu accused CAN of using the herdsmen issue the same way it did with the issue of Boko Haram as an excuse to destabilise Nigeria so as to achieve its “agenda.”

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Aliyu said, “We nonetheless make bold that CAN is deliberately covering up by using the herdsmen debacle as a franchise to perpetrate evil as witnessed in the Boko Haram tale.

“Seeing that they have got away with those crimes, CAN has now devised a new approach to destabilise Nigeria in order to achieve its agenda.”

According to Aliyu, the press conference organised by Asake on January 16, was mendacious, provocative, full of blatant lies and misinformation, disinformation as well as seditious to the state. He also accused Christian leaders across the country of making hate speeches.

“The ‘herdsmen’ debacle; it must be understood that this is a coinage mischievously invented by CAN over time and its biased errand boys among media practitioners to stereotype an ethnic group so as to achieve a pre-planned agenda. Moreover, why not call a spade by its name?

“And why is the whole herdsmen issue heightened in 2018? Simply CAN is unnecessarily overheating the polity because 2019 is around the corner. Our take is that CAN should better go and register as a political party and contest election if it wants to test its popularity!

“We, nonetheless, make bold to say that CAN is deliberately covering up by using the ‘herdsmen’ debacle as a franchise to perpetrate evil as witnessed in the ‘Boko Haram’ tale.” Aliyu said.

 

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