Supreme Council for Shari‘ah in Nigeria (SCSN), has expressed concern over the trillions of Naira pumped into curtailing insecurity and boosting power supply without positive results over the years.
Addressing Muslim Ummah (Muslim Community) in Nigeria yesterday at the annual pre-Ramadan meeting in Kaduna, the president of SCSN, Sheikh Abdurrasheed Hadiytullah called on the Muslim Ummah to impress on the federal government to put a stop to corruption, leakages and wasteful spending of public funds without meeting the targets.
Sheikh Hadiytullah said regrettably, it is the ordinary Nigerians that are bearing the brunt of the wasteful spending, and urged the leaders to develop political will to tackle corruption headlong to ensure sanity in the country.
He however, tasked the Ummah to stay away from hate speech and preaching before, during and after the Ramadan to avoid attracting violence, adding that Islam is not a religion of violence but love and unity.
He said „We should in unison, keep appealing to our governments to take concrete steps to address the issue of corruption, leakages and wasteful spending.
“Corruption is like a cancer, which destroys everything noble and undermines the principles of good governance. Here, it is perfectly justified to ask our leaders, why should the ordinary Nigerian be made to bear the brunt of insecurity with trillions being spent on the security agencies without positive result or accountability? Why should the ordinary Nigerian suffer difficulties from power failure and its skyrocketing cost with over $20 billion wasted on power, without positive results or accountability? There is no doubt that we cannot reasonably expect solutions to issues bedeviling our lives until our leaders summon the political will to address the issue of corruption, whenever, wherever and whoever is involved”.
The Islamic ummah urged the federal government to re-examine the neo liberal economic template guiding our policies and perish the thought of plans to totally abolish all subsidies and commercialize strategic public agencies, without any semblance of social safety net to mitigate the attendant horrendous consequences on the population.
He stated that „in these challenging times, it is crucial that we uphold the principles of peace, unity, and understanding. We should preach against resorting to violent protests against the government and strive for dialogue and constructive engagement with governments to address our concerns, adding that Islam encourages us to seek solutions to problems with our leaders through peaceful means only. Violence only begets more violence, and it is our duty as responsible citizens and followers of Islam to promote harmony and stability. Together, let us channel our grievances through peaceful avenues, fostering a culture of tolerance and cooperation for the betterment of our society.“
