21022021 - S/N govs. monarchs join forces against killer herdsman,crinimals

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SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 21, 2021, PAGE 21
FIREWORKS IN KANO OVER ‘DIVISIVE’ CLERIC
Among other sins, Abduljabbar
has led a lot of people astray
—Prof Labdo
By Bashir Bello
Umar Labdo is a professor of
Islamic political thought at
Maitama Sule University,
Kano. In this interview, Labdo
speaks on the banning of an Islamic
cleric, Sheikh Abduljabbar
Nasir Kabara, by Kano State
government on account of
preaching inciting messages.
The state government had, a
fortnight ago, banned the cleric for
alleged inciting preaching.
Muhammad Garba, the state
Commissioner for Information,
who announced the order in a
statement, said government
considered the cleric’s mode
of teachings as incendiary.
Kano State government
has banned an Islamic
cleric,
Sheikh
Abduljabbar, from
preaching and other
religious activities for
what it termed as
incitement...
I think the decision of Kano
State government to ban
Abduljabbar from preaching and
other religious activities is
long overdue. It should
have been done a long
time ago. This man
claims to be an Islamic
scholar but his ways are
divisive. He is working
to divide Muslims in
•Labdo
Kano and other places in Nigeria. His
method is that he quotes non-text from
authentic sources but gives them
interpretations that are entirely his
own. Islam is 1, 500 years old. This
young man is now coming out with
new interpretations that are unheard
of. I am an expert in Islamic Studies,
although my field is Islamic political
thought. I did my Islamic studies in
Arabic not in English as others do. I
can tell you authoritatively that
Abduljabbar is a charlatan. I can’t even
call him a scholar because
he doesn’t understand
the Qur’an. Everybody
will tell you that whenever
he quotes from the
Qur’an, he makes grave
mistakes. And an Islamic
scholar is supposed to
commit the Qur’an to
memory which is the basic
requirement of Islamic
scholarship. In the past,
committing the Qur’an to
memory used to be the
elementary stage of
studying Islam. The
Qur’an is a fountain while
other knowledge of Islam
emanate from the Qur’an.
How can somebody who
doesn’t know Qur’an claim that he is
an Islamic scholar?
Sermons
Second, if you listened to his sermons
and lessons, you will be surprised that
some people regard him as a scholar. This
is somebody who will be uttering
unguarded utterances. This is
somebody who will tell his followers to
slaughter anyone who differs or goes
contrary to their teachings. He was
openly calling for violence. This is the
kind of person that, if left unchecked,
could grow to be another Maitasine,
another Muhammad Yusuf (leader of
If you
listened to
his sermons
and lessons,
you will be
surprised
that some
people
regard him
as a scholar
Boko Haram).
First, he told
young people
not to go to
Western
school like
Zakzaky did in
the 1980s. We
were in the
university and so
we knew what
•Sheikh
Abduljabbar
Nasir Kabara
happened. Now,
Abduljabbar is trying
to take the place of
Zakzaky because he is also
a Shiite. Now, because Zakzaky is old
and devastated because six of his
children were killed and he has
been in detention for five years,
Abduljabbar is trying to take
his place. He said that
publicly. That is why I said
what government did was
right. It came a little late
because the young man
has led a lot of people
astray. Many young
people now listen to him as
if he is significant. He is
zero in the world of
knowledge and not a
religious man. He is
exploiting our bad situation
because we have a lot of
Almajiri children and
unemployed youths
roaming the streets that
need to be entertained. And
he is providing
entertainment.
Sword
Go to social media, you will see him
sometimes with a sword, marching on the
streets of Kano and hundreds follow him.
And he would threaten that whoever dares
him would be dealt with. If not because
we are not serious, how could we tolerate
this man all these years? He should have
been dealt with long ago. What the Kano
State government did is in order and they
are equally fair to him for even agreeing
to organise an open debate. It is also in
line with Islamic tradition and culture
to organise an open debate
between opposing camps.
For hundreds of years,
traditional rulers have
been organising this. In
history, here in Kano, Emir
Sanusi I, organised such an
open debate. It is to convince
the populace that what the
government did is in order.
Let this man come out and
air his views and scholars
will be there.
Don’t you think a lot of
people might also be
derailed during the
debate?
No, he would air his views
and scholars would be there to reply
him. It would also be an opportunity to
examine his evidence and show that it
is faulty. Once this is done, even if he is
not convinced, people would be
convinced. That is why it is for
government to organise this open
debate.
What about his followers?
I think his followers should be
rehabilitated because most of them are
jobless. They are idle people. They just sit
around and some are drug addicts.
Government should empower them by
using scholars to salvage them from the
situation he led them into.
Ganduje instigating Imams
against Abduljabbar — Lawyer
By Bashir
Bello
R abiu
Shuaibu
Abdullahi
is a member
of the legal
team of the
b a n n e d
Islamic cleric
in Kano,
S h e i k h
Abduljabbar
Nasir-Kabara. In
this
interview,
Abdullahi accuses Kano
State government of wrongly
accusing his client of inciting the
public. He gives a fresh
perspective on the matter.
What can you say about the
controversy surrounding Sheikh
Abduljabbar?
On February 3, this year, around 11:30
am, we heard an announcement from
Kano State Commissioner for
Information that Sheikh Abduljabbar
has been banned from preaching. His
mosque and all his places of religious
activities were directed to be closed
with immediate effect. The following
day, at about 5 am, security men were
mobilised to his residence, library,
mosque, school, and others situated at
Sani Mainange in Filin Mushe. Since
then, he has not been allowed to come
out and nobody was allowed to see
him except his lawyers who got access
to him after encountering many
difficulties. The team of lawyers sat
down and resolved that we should take
legal action for the reinforcement of
his fundamental human
rights. His freedom of
liberty was affected, right
of movement, religion,
assembly, thoughts, and
life among others. We
now filed a case before
Federal High Court and
it was slated for hearing
on February 10, but the
matter was not heard
because we had two
motions (motion ex-parte
and motion of notice). The
judge said the matter
itself is of urgency. Both
are of urgency, so he
would not entertain the
motion ex-parte but will
entertain the substantive
matter on February 18.
We will now appear
before the Federal High
Court for the hearing of the motion of
notice.
What is the update about your plans
to go to the state High Court?
We have two problems. First is the ban
from preaching, closing of his mosque
which touch on fundamental human
rights and that is the one we took to the
Federal High Court. The second issue is
an order given by a Magistrate Court in
Gidan Murtala. That order was not
properly given to our understanding. We
got the order and observed that only one
party (applicant) was before the court but
not the respondent. We have never seen
that kind of order before.
Recently, some lawyers said there
shouldn’t be dialogue in the matter...
Yes, I read the view of my learned friend,
Barrister Marouf Yakasai. He is a very
good friend but, with all due respect, he
did not even understand the issue. It seems
he didn’t read the order of the court. The
order banned Sheikh Abduljabbar from
preaching and conducting other religious
We have two
problems.
First is the
ban from
preaching,
closing of his
mosque
which touch
on
fundamental
human
rights
activities. It also stopped media stations
from broadcasting his preaching and his
alleged unguarded utterances. What is the
relationship between this and dialogue?
Is he going to preach in that dialogue? Is
he going to make unguarded utterances
in that dialogue? Dialogue is different
from preaching. It implies he will discuss
with Ulamas. We welcomed the idea when
we heard that government is now trying
to do justice to our client by giving him a
fair hearing. These Ulamas lodged a
complaint against him. They said he is
making unguarded utterances.
Let’s go back to the dialogue, is your
client looking forward to it?
My client is very eager for this dialogue.
I went to my client a few days ago on the
dialogue. He said he is waiting for the
dialogue and wishes it comes soon. It is
with this dialogue that my client will
enlighten the public on his intentions,
interpretations and understanding of
Islam. Without the dialogue, justice will
not be served and people will not
understand what is happening. Without
this dialogue, people will be deceived.
They are already being deceived. And
some minorities are deceiving the public
and want to continue. That is why they
don’t want this dialogue to take place
because definitely, something will come
out of it.
But your client is said to have a link
with the Shiite movement...
My client has already answered this
question in an interview with BBC. Let me
quote my client. He said: “If you ask me,
are you a Shiite? I will ask you what is the
meaning of Shiitism? The answer you give
will determine the answer I will give you”.
These are the wordings of my client and I
don’t want to add to it. If
he is allowed to exercise
his right of movement,
will he be safe? My client
did not see any threat
from anybody here in
Kano except that from
government who sent
security men to guard
him. At a meeting between
the governor and the
Friday Imams,
penultimate Thursday, he
(Governor Ganduje) gave
them directives on what
he wanted them to say in
their sermons on Friday.
He was instigating
Imams to preach against
him and he is now sending
security men to guard and
protect his life. Would
you accept it? We don’t see
any threat from the public but
government. Our governor’s utterances
are very scary.
The cleric was quoted to have
allegedly said he is being witchhunted
for working against
Ganduje in 2019...
This is purely a religious issue. Can
you hide under Ulamas to take revenge
on what happened during an election?
He is not supposed to do that. Leaders
are leaders because they have big
hearts above their subjects.
But some people are saying
government’s action is long
overdue...
That is their view. Have you ever heard
Sheikh Abduljabbar on radio or
television station? He doesn’t take his
preaching to public radio stations or
television stations. It is through social
media. It is you that will buy your data
and log into the site voluntarily. Why
would you log into the site, listen to
him and complain? It is restricted to
those willing and not the entire public.