…Says Kaduna Preaching Bill unconstitutional
From Abdullahi Hassan, Zaria
Islamic scholar and Muslim cleric, Ahmad Gumi has said Boko Haram is 100 percent a Muslim problem.
He also described the controversial Religious Preaching Bill before the Kaduna State House of Assembly “unconstitutional.”
Since it was presented to the legislative house, there has been growing outrage by both Muslim and Christian groups on the bill which they described as attempts by the state government to infringe on their fundamental human rights.
In the past, Governor Nasiru el-Rufa’i met with officials of the state branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and other critical stakeholders to seek their support.
The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has kicked against the bill with the state branch chairman, Prof. Femi Ehimidu describing the bill as “obnoxious, which will take away our rights to preach and evangelise…”
The state government, through Deputy Governor, Yusuf Bala Bantex told a delegation of the state chapter of the CAN that the bill, when passed into law, would curb religious extremism.u
But, in an interview published in the April edition of The Interview, Gumi said the bill had gone too far.
“If you are trying to fight terrorism and extremism, you don’t clamp on the freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of propagation of thoughts. These liberties are enshrined in the constitution,” he said.
However, he said the bill could drive extremism underground.
The cleric also described Boko Haram as “100 percent a Muslim problem,” accusing some people in the North of “cooperating with and working to protect them.
“Boko Haram, as it is now, cannot prosper in Ibadan, because the locals will expose them. The same in Enugu. The people agitating for Biafra cannot prosper in the North because they will be exposed.
“We have to understand that these people are from amongst us and that the society is not doing enough to bring these elements out. I can tell you that Boko Haram is 100 per cent a Muslim problem.”
Gumi, who also described the agitation for Biafra as “analogue,” challenged Muslim leaders to do more to combat Boko Haram.
Meanwhile, the Zaria branch of CAN has said obtaining a licence to preach on religious issues was an attempt to create religious acrimony and hostility among the people.
The association, however, argued that the Constitution does not place restriction on places where a person can manifest or propagate his religion citing section 38 (1) of the 1999 Constitution that expressly allows public manifestation and propagation of religion.
CAN called on the state government to immediately re-track from this provocative and unconstitutional expedition by withdrawing the bill.