Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Jama’Atu Nasril Islam (JNI) has condemned the abduction and conversion of Kano Muslim children into Christianity in Enugu State.
A statement by Secretary-General of GNI, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, yesterday, “expresses unquantifiable pain and sadness over the unbelievable inhuman act of the kidnapping of Muslim children in Kano State by Igbo Christian slave traders in this 21st century, kidnappers who then sold the children into slavery and were subsequently converted to Christianity.
“What was painfully shocking was the desperation of converting these Muslim minors to Christianity and changing their names to Christian names, in order to obliterate their history, lineage and culture.
“We nonetheless condemn in the strongest terms this act of barbarism of inhumanity against Muslim children. It is unacceptable, dehumanizing and reprehensible.
“We call on all government agencies responsible to fast-track the return and rehabilitation of the abducted kids with their parents and relatives and investigate further the reported cases of hundreds of the same criminality being reported by parents in Kano. We also call on parents to be vigilant of their children against criminal minds.
The perpetrators must be tried and sanctioned appropriately in accordance with relevant laws”
Relatively, Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria said it has set up two committees to investigate the alleged Kano State children abduction and the raid by police at an Islamiyya reformation centre in Rigasa Kaduna State.
The Council said a five-man facts finding committee will investigate the incident where nine muslim children were kidnapped and sold after being converted to Christianity, while a 16-man committee will investigate the Kaduna Islamiyya Reformation centre raid in Rigasa.
The council’s Secretary General Nafiu Baba-Ahmad, represented by Jamilu Mu’azu Hidara disclosed this at a meeting with Islamic Scholars and Ulamas to discuss the rising insecurity in the country held in the state.