TheCable

Some Islamic clerics in Kaduna have accused Joseph Hayab, the state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), of  politicising the insecurity in the state.

The Islamic clerics were reacting to a statement by Hayab who had said the church in the state had spent over N300 million to secure release of members who have been kidnapped in the last four years.

Speaking to journalist on Saturday, Yusuf Arigasiyu,  secretary of the Ulamas, said Hayab’s statement was capable of inflaming crisis.

He said the statement was “divisive and false, “especially the claim that kidnappers only abduct Christians in the state” .

Arigasiyu said kidnapping is a security challenge faced by the whole nation, and perpetrators as well as their victims cut across ethno-religious divides.

“For instance, along Birnin Gwari-Kaduna road alone, between 22nd June and 30th July 2019, over 55 persons have been kidnapped and over 20 persons were killed, including five Nigerian air force and army personnel, according to news reports,” Arigasiyu said.

He added that majority of the citizens killed and kidnapped along Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Igabi and Abuja-Kaduna roads and the border towns with Niger, Katsina and Zamfara states are Muslims.

“Muslims have always condemned acts of criminality and have called on the state and federal governments to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians, irrespective of where they are or how they worship,” he said.

“If we may ask, where was Rev Hayab when on the 24 July 2018, Prof. Halima Idris, former commissioner of education in Katsina state, was killed along Kaduna-Abuja road by kidnappers? Where was he on 18 September 2017, when Sherrif Abidu Yazid was killed on the same Kaduna-Abuja road by bandits who also went away with his wife?

“Top civil servants from Zamfara state were kidnapped and killed on 16 July 2019 along Kachia-Kaduna road, what did the likes of Rev. Hayab  say about all these killings? Only yesterday (Friday), the CAN chairman also resorted to telling his tales on television, by mischievously dressing a security issue as a religious one.

“In his wild allegation, Hayab claimed that there is a grand design to exterminate Christians and pastors in Kaduna state. This conspiracy theory is already breeding tension in the state. We also have it on good authority that Hayab’s  divisive campaign is a ploy to set the stage for a bloodshed that is being  hatched by the CAN chairman”..

‘WE DID NOT SAY ONLY CHRISTIANS ARE KIDNAPPED’

In his reaction, Hayab denied ever saying that only Christians were being kidnapped.

The CAN chairman alleged that the Ulamas were being sponsored by some faceless people to divert attention from the security challenges in the state.

He said they chose the approach after an earlier attempt to blackmail him failed.

“We did not say only Christians were being kidnapped. We said they have been kidnapping people in Kaduna state, but the new trend these days is that they are kidnapping pastors, so what are they up to?” Hayab asked.

“Those who sponsored the Ulamas made a mistake by asking them to accuse me and twist my words. Let them go and ask the commissioner of police whether we are not informing them about those kidnap incidents. Interested, the commissioner of police is a Muslim, the state director of SSS is a Muslim, we are only telling them to do their work.

“As the leader of Christians in Kaduna state, if my house is on fire and I cry and you say I am raising issues for war, then it is quiet unfortunate! I will be a bad leader if I don’t speak out on the issues that are threatening the existence of my people.”

He added that some Muslims have also contributed to the payment of ransom for some of their abducted relations.

“Even in the interview that  I granted to Liberty (a local radio and Television station), I stated very clearly that people should not take it to be religious, because we even have some Muslims who contributed sometimes to the payment of ransom for some of our abducted relations, “he said.

“Their sponsors want to divert attention from the real issues that is making us cry… let me say that I also have some Ulamas that we have been talking together because they are also affected. What I expect the Ulamas  to have done is to say, we have had more than this number of people who have also been kidnapped and we have also paid this amount of money, so together we should fight and ensure we have security.

“The kidnappings along Kaduna – Abuja road is  general, it affects everybody.  But we are talking about people who are being abducted in their own homes. We have never said the kidnappers are Fulani or Muslim.”