Muslim clerics in Nigeria on Wednesday slammed the violence in the north led by a fundamentalist sect as criminal and an embarrassment to the religion.
”It’s unfortunate and an embarrassment to the Muslims,” Abdulkarim Mohazu, secretary general of Nigeria’s Jama’atul Nasril Islam, an umbrella body of Muslims in the country, told Agence France-Presse.
He said the organisation was calling an emergency meeting of Nigerian Islamic scholars to discuss the developments and map out ways to help the government tackle the violence.
At least 260 people have been killed in fours days of clashes between security forces and armed members of the sect who went on a spree torching government buildings and churches.
”Up to now we don’t know who the perpetrators are, but this is totally criminal and not good at all,” Mohazu said.
The self-styled Nigerian Talibans are opposed to western education which they consider a sin.
”Had we known these people, we would have asked their leaders to show us which part of the Qur’an says Western education is a sin. We hope government can help us find these people so we can talk to them,” he added.
The Nigerian extremists emerged in 2002 in Maiduguri before setting up a camp on the border with Niger, from where it attacked launched a series of attacks against the police.
Maiduguri remains the group’s base and stronghold.
Nigeria Africa’s most populous country is roughly divided half-half into Muslims and Christians.
Northern Nigeria is mainly Muslim, although large Christian minorities have settled in the main towns, raising tensions between the two groups.
Since the return of a civilian regime to Nigeria’s central government in 1999, 12 northern states have adopted Islamic Sharia law. — Sapa-AFP