|
New Page 12
Fresh violence looms in Kano
•Quadiriyya threatens Shakarau
•Panic grips non-indigenes
MUHAMMED KABIR,
Kano
FRESH crisis is
brewing in Kano, scene of the May 11, this year’s bloodletting, as the
Qadiriyya Islamic sect vowed to make the state ungovernable for Gov. Ibrahim
Shekarau for alleged oppression of their members.
Already, the threat has sent panic into
Christians and non-indigenes should clashes result from the emerging face-off.
The Qadiriyya with several millions
of members in Kano alone is believed to be largest Islamic sect in the country.
Speaking with newsmen in Kano yesterday,
the group leader Sheikh Karibullah Kabara accused Gov. Shekarau of reneging on
his alleged promise "to put our members in any of the three sharia commissions,
the Zakkat and Hisbah (sharia implementation) board."
Kabara further accused the governor of
"stopping the airing of our programmes on Radio Kano by returning our
deposit of N80,000 paid for one of the programmes."
He reminded the governor of his promise on
assumption of office but last year to carry along everybody in the state,
alleging that "last to our atmost dismay, Shekarau who said he is practising
Sharia, today is all out on blackmail mission on our members."
He warned that "Shakaru’s actions or
inactions on us, are gradually provocating us. And let me sound this warning, by
the time, we turn on him, Kano will be ungovernable for him."
Two months ago, the leadership marched to
the House of Assembly to protest the removal of the powers to appoint Imams and
the building of mosques from the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero.
The protest forced the state government to
rescind the decision.
Sheikh Kabara recalled the police stoppage
of the Qadirriya annual mouqubi festival, pointing out that it
appears the state government wants to rubbish them.
However, president-general of Igbo
Community Association (ICA) in Kano, Chief Baniface Ebekwe said "we have alerted
the security agencies on the activities of the
Qadiriyya."
According to him, it was now left for the
agencies to take necessary measures to ensure that there is no breakdown of law
and order so that non-indigenes do not suffer losses from feuds which do not
concern them in any way.
Director of Press Affairs to the governor,
Hallam Sule Ya’u Sule, denied all the Quadiriyya’s allegations.
Sule told Daily Champion on phone
that the governor had lived up to his promise to carry every segment of the
society along.
According to him, a Qadiriyya was
on the board of the Zakkat commission.
All religious groups in the state, the
director said, are allowed by government to run their programmes free on the
state-owned media.
"How could they say they paid money for
any programme when airing such on our media, as a deliberate policy, is free?"
he querried.
Sule alleged that the Qadiriyya had
expressed opposition to Shekarau before the governor assumed office on the
ground that the latter belongs to a rival sect, the
Izalah.
"Nobody cares about them. They just want
to be relevant," he said.
Any threat to peace, the director added,
will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
|
