In a rare admission of responsibility, Muslim leaders in the North took the blame for the insecurity in the region.
They said their inability to stand up to their responsibilities to impart sound knowledge and effective leadership was responsible for the current insecurity challenges in the region.
Besides, the Muslim leaders appealed to the Boko Haram sect members to accept dialogue as a way of ending the insecurity in the region.
These were contained in the communique issued at the end of a national conference on the role of Muslim scholars in fostering unity, peace and security organised by the Jama’atu Nasril Islam in Kaduna.
They also blamed the Federal Government for its failure to prosecute sponsors and perpetrators of violence in the country.
The communique signed by the Chairman of the communique drafting committee, Prof. S. Junaidu, and the Secretary General of JNI. Dr. Khalid Aliyu read in part, “The prevailing security challenges are partly as a result of the individual and collective inability of the Ulama’ to stand up to their responsibility in terms of teaching and disseminating sound knowledge and giving effective leadership in community and social responsibility.
“That government’s refusal to institute judicial process of inquiry or prosecution as the case may be, against people arrested and are accused of perpetrating violence, is an abdication of cardinal leadership responsibility that smacks of insensitivity in governance.
“That since unity of Muslims is a cardinal obligation, the conference implored the scholars to uphold, foster and promote it and that scholars must stand up to their rightful position as heirs of the Prophets to shun vices and tread the path of piety and righteousness in order to discharge their obligation of guiding the Ummah duly and effectively, especially as it pertains to the issue of unity.”
JNI added, “That Muslim scholars must uphold the principle of insaf (mutual fairness), clemency, tolerance, love and respect towards one another as a way of fostering and promoting unity in the Ummah.”
The organisation called on the government to lead the fight against corruption.
It said, “That as evidence of good governance, government at all levels should lead in fighting the endemic corruption in the country by strictly upholding the rule of law against the perpetrators and promoters of that national scourge.”