Emir Reiterates Call For Self-Defence Against Insurgents

NOT deterred by the attack on a strategic mosque in Kano State last year shortly after a widely reported comment on Boko Haram insurgents, Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Saturday, urged Muslims to ensure they defend themselves against the activities of insurgents ravaging parts of Northern Nigeria.

   The emir also hinted that the inability of the Federal Government to check security challenges indicated that Nigeria has become a “weak state.”

   He spoke in Auchi, headquarters of Etsako West local government council of Edo State at the closing ceremony of the  29th National Quranic, where he stressed that the “first responsibility of the state is to protect lives and properties of its citizens or it loses the basis of its existence.”

   Sanusi insisted that Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states and any other part of Nigeria still under Boko Haram must be liberated, stressing that “government must defeat Boko Haram”.

  While commending the efforts of Nigerians who were able to arrest suspected terrorists that attacked a mosque in Kano last year, the emir reiterated his earlier call that Muslims must defend themselves, saying “if your enemy comes to attack you and you run away, Allah will not help you.”

  He admitted that it is the duty of government to protect lives and properties of its citizens but called on the people to stop running from the terrorists who he said are projecting Islam in an ungodly manner. 

  “It is extremely important that we study the Quran, which provides the most noble of behaviours and characters” he said, adding that selling free-borns into slavery, kidnapping of young girls, and rape are not part of Islam. 

   “Muslim leaders must speak up or we are guilty of complicity,” he quipped.

    He said for a group of insurgents to take over some areas in Bornu and kill 2000 people in Baga shows that the Nigerian state is weak, but that “we can’t keep quiet while people are being killed; we must fight to make sure our religion is not distorted. But the state must protect us.”

    On his part, the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Umar Gabai El Kanemi, said the Qur’anic recitation is the most important rallying point for Muslims and must be sustained.

   He called on Muslims leaders to base their teachings on the Holy Quran in order not to mislead followers.

   Urging Nigerians to live in peace, he stressed that “what we cannot achieve through peace can never be achieved through violence.”

    Earlier, governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, said God would help the country to overcome its challenges in the North East, pointing out that there is no country in the world without its own challenges.