The Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) has expressed anger at the recent allegations linking it and the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami with a plot to eliminate the former Governor of Kaduna State, the late Mr. Patrick Yakowa who died in an air crash years back.
In a statement issued yesterday which was signed by Its Secretary-General, Khalid Aliyu, JNI described the report as ‘disheartening’ and ‘disgusting’. stating that the allegations were designed to tarnish its image and that of other Muslim organizations.
It said it was shocked by the desperation of some disgruntled elements that in their desperate attempt to smear the image of the Pantami were smearing the name of the JNI.
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The Muslim religious organisation categorically denied that it was part of any meeting in Bauchi where discussions were held to eliminate Yakowa when the ex-governor was alive.
The rebuttal was on the trail of purported minutes posted on social media, which claimed Pantami was the arrowhead of a JNI meeting where plans were hatched to get rid of Yakowa and stop the spread of Christianity in the North.
The communique, which authenticity has not been verified, was allegedly adopted at the zonal meeting held in Bauchi in 2010, two years before the former governor died in a helicopter crash in Bayelsa State alongside a former National Security Adviser, General Andrew Owoye Azazi.
The document emerged following persistent calls for Pantami’s resignation amid the controversy generated by his link with Al Qaeda and the Taliban in addition to the extremist views he expressed many years ago in support of terror groups.
‘The JNI under the leadership of His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the JNI, was taken aback by the desperation of some disgruntled elements who in their desperate attempt to smear the image of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy drag the name of the JNI as being part of an alleged plot to assassinate the late Governor Yakowa of Kaduna State.
‘To start with, how could Sheikh Pantami chair a JNI meeting while he was not one of its leaders either at the national or state levels? What could have necessitated the combination of Bauchi, Plateau, Niger and Kaduna states from different geo-political zones in the meeting? If Yakowa was vehemently hated by the Muslims and were desperately trying to ‘get rid’ of him, how did he win the 2011 election in a Muslim-dominated state of Kaduna where a Muslim-Muslim ticket recently sailed through? Who voted him in?’ JNI queried.
It regretted that the titbits of the minutes shared on social media were designed to further confuse and manipulate an average Nigerian’s mind into believing this orchestrated lie, adding it had further confirmed the desperation of the perpetrators.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
