A prominent religious cleric and leader in Kaduna State, Dr. Imam Muhammad Nurayn Ashafa, has cautioned
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode over his hate speech, calling on the authorities to immediately arrest him.
Dr. Ashafa stated that such hate speech was capable of causing genocide against another as it was this same form
of hate speech that fuelled the genocide in Rwanda.
Ashafa who accused Fani-Kayode of calling the Fulani’s “tse-tse flies” said he must be imprisoned for such statements which is capable of disorganizing the peace and unity in the country.
In an interview with Daily Independent, the religious leader said, “in Rwanda, it started by somebody calling them
cockroaches and when you start calling somebody cockroaches, you are demonizing a whole ethnic group”.
According to him, today, one of the safest places for the Fulani’s is the Yoruba nation; from Kwara to Edo, to Ondo and Oyo states are some of the very safe places for the Fulani’s but where there are challenges, is the MiddleBelt.
When you start calling them “tse-tse flies” what is the message you are passing to the people? If “tse-tse flies” perches on your body, you are likely to contact malaria which can also cause
death, what is the implication of that? It means that they are dangerous species. What Fani-Kayode is promoting is genocide.
It is amusing when people accuse religious leaders of being responsible for religious crisis whenever it erupts in the country forgetting the roles played by the political actors in our political
space, Imam Ashafa stated.
“This again, is by a political actor/politician using ethnic identity”. It is a dangerous trend that Femi Fani-Kayode is toeing as “it is also the same path the Nazis took in demonizing the Jews that
resulted in the genocide against the Israeli nation”. “It was the same scenario in Rwanda by the Hutus against the Tutsis” It was the same with Cote-D’Ivoire where Gbagbo condemned the northerners that they are non-Ivoirians and demonized them”.
The highly respected cleric warned that politics of demonization must stop, stating that the problem has nothing to do with religion or tradition but the infiltration of political actors into our religious
space.
“Why should you go to the Church or Mosque to pray and ask for political votes”? We should endeavour to de-politicize our religious space and also, de-religionize our political space and when we are able to do this, we are creating a future; a nation that we will all be proud of. We have potentials of being the best nation in Africa with the best potentials, he stressed.
Ashafa called on the legislators to sponsor a “Hate Speech Bill” that will go against any political actor who politicizes religion or, politicizes and demonizes any group over the other and a stipulated
punishment spelt out.
“We need a “Bill” that will do away with “politics of religion”. Therefore, the “issue of politicization of religion and the religionisation of our political process will give way for a free Nigeria.
“In the United Kingdom, a Nigerian born British is now the leader of the largest party in there not to talk of in America where Nigerians have become Mayor of some of the major cities. These are persons who travelled there some 10-1 5 years ago.
But here in Nigeria, are we allowed to be that free? How can I be born in a place and 60 years
after, my children born there and I cannot contest elections? That is most unfair.
To rectify the situation, there must be ban on indigenity amongst us and try to promote citizenship if we must forge ahead and take our rightful place”, the Islamic cleric advised.
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