Sultan’s comment inciting –CAN

JOHN SHIKLAM Kaduna

Secretary General of the Northern Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Elder Saidu Dogo yesterday said the recent statement credited to the Sultan of Sokoto and President general, Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III was capable of causing religious disharmony between Muslims and Christians in the country.

The Sultan had during a meeting of Northern emirs at the Arewa House in Kaduna last Monday expressed concern over the increasing missionary activities in the country and urged the JNI to take steps to counter the development.

However, the CAN scribe, while reacting to the Sultan’s viewpoint in an interview with Daily Champion yesterday in Kaduna said he was stupefied that such remark could come from a highly placed individual.

Mr. Dogo noted that while efforts were made by the past and present administration to forge inter-religious tolerance between Muslims and Christians, the Sultan could make such utterances.

Dogo declared that nobody in the country can stop the expansion of Christianity, stressing that it is a constitutional right for adherents of both religions to propagate their faith.

The Sultan’s statement he added was uncalled for since nobody stopped Muslims engaging in evangelization.

"The statement is unfortunate, coming from somebody who is highly placed like the Sultan. You see while the past and present governments have been trying to forge an inter-religious tolerance among us, this statement from the Sultan is very unfortunate.

"Nobody in this country can stop the expansion of Christianity. It is our constitutional right. It is our religious right. We do not stop Muslims from evangelizing if they like.

"For the Sultan to say they will counter Christian missionary activities in this country is unfortunate. I want to believe that he was misquoted, but if he was not misquoted, it is most unfortunate.

"But this is a clarion call for all our evangelists to put more efforts to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Both Christians and Muslims have every right to evangelize. It is our prayer that there should be level playing field for all to propagate their different religions. There should not be any hindrance to that.

"I earnestly want to say again that if this statement comes from the Sultan, it is sad. He could have gone to say, look we must make more efforts to evangelise, we are not doing enough.

"But for him to make comparison with Christian missionary activities is wrong. We are not comparing with Islam.

"We have a clarion call by God to go to every nook and cranny of the world to evangelize and preach the gospel of Christ and that is what we are doing because it is our injunction.

"Such a statement can be misunderstood and create problems for us…," Elder Dogo declared.

It would be recalled that emirs from the North Monday converged on Kaduna where they expressed concern about the increasing activities of Christian evangelical organizations vowing to counter it by encouraging the spread of the Islam.

The Sultan who spoke on their behalf lamented the trend and implored JNI to play a leading role in upturning the development.

However, the Kaduna State governor, Alhaji. Namadi Sambo who also spoke called for caution, charging traditional rulers not to fall prey to beliefs canvassed by being exploited by religious extremist. He advised them to guide their subjects against religious extremism that might lead to unpleasant consequences on the polity.

The Sultan had during a meeting of Northern emirs at the Arewa House in Kaduna last Monday expressed concern over the increasing missionary activities in the country and urged the JNI to take steps to counter the development.

belloti:

The sultan should be understood first. you guys are just carried away by sentiments.

belloti:

Pilgrim and david, i want you to follow the sequence of events and the circumstances leading up to the maligned statement, you may probably discover the real issues behind the comment. Sultan is a very learned, disciplined and cautious gentleman. He speak with wisdom and that is very much needed to understand his statements.

belloti:

Pilgrim and david, i want you to follow the sequence of events and the circumstances leading up to the maligned statement, you may probably discover the real issues behind the comment. Sultan is a very learned, disciplined and cautious gentleman. He speak with wisdom and that is very much needed to understand his statements.

belloti:

The sultan is a religious leader for the nigerian muslims just like Onayekan or Mbang or Okogie. His statements most times are sort of admonishment and preaching for righteousness and spirit of brotherhood.

belloti:

He may suggest to muslim folks the need to spread the gospel of truth to our fellow brethren and dispell the fake and unholy messages laundered by the so called evangelists and doomsday missionaries. The sultan was clearly speaking to the muslims, his primary constituency.

belloti:

Pilgrim, na wa oh.

i am the victim now. can you see how we read each other even here?

belloti:

However, i d love to stress here that, the sultan mean no harm to no one. He is suppose to navigate the ship and chart the course. He is speaking out for religious awakening in the most peaceful and reasonable way. We need to wake up before the evangelist take us off guard. But peacefully too