Bashir Mohammed
Kano
A Kano-based prominent Islamic Group, the Centre for Qur’anic Reciters Nigeria, has called on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be wary of getting involved with the government of President Recep Erdogan of Turkey, saying the desire of Turkey to partner with Saudi Arabia to introduce an NGO to be named as Ma’arif Foundation in some Muslim countries, could end up spreading intolerance and extremism in the world.
In a statement issued in Kano and signed by Sheikh Goni Sanusi Abubakar, the General Secretary and CEO of the Centre, the group is particularly concerned that the government of Turkey has concluded plans to bring Ma’arif Foundation to Nigeria, with the dubious objective of taking over foreign investments of Turkish nationals that the government of Turkey politically disagrees with.
In the statement, the Qur’anic Centre says Turkey wants the funding of Ma’arif Foundation to be taken over by the Islamic Development Bank and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and entrench the extreme concept of Wahabism, with all the implication of such to spread of intolerance and possibly terrorism in Nigeria and the countries to be affected.
“This, clearly, is against the teaching of Islam, a religion of peace, whose Holy Prophet embraced Christians and lived in absolute peace with them. In Prophet Muhammad’s Treaty With Christians, he instructed Muslims to regard Christians as their own, protect their places of worship and guarantee them peaceful life.
“If Nigeria allows Ma’arif or any such group in whatever nomenclature into Nigeria, chances are that the culture of intolerance that will be induced could well make Boko Haram a child’s play. This may sound farfetched, but then 10 years ago, nobody thought Boko Haram was going to grow to become the big monster it has become. Things like this should never be taken for granted. What Nigeria needs is peace, not any dubious group coming through the backdoor to cause anarchy by exploiting the fractious social fault lines in the country.
“We want to believe Saudi Arabia most likely doesn’t know that Turkish President Erdogan is a maximum dictator that has been condemned by all well meaning organisations across the globe. We wonder, for example, how a leader that styles himself as a Caliph will order for the detention of an innocent Nigerian young Muslim woman, Miss Rukayya Usman, in a cell with men, for the ridiculous offence of attending a school belonging to his political opponents.
This was on September 26last year at 8am, when Miss Usman, a student of political science and international relations of Malikseh University, arrived at Istanbul Airport as a student.
On espionage, the Centre also accuses Turkey of undermining Nigeria’s sovereignty by engaging in acts of espionage through Diyanet, the country’s Directorate of Religious Affairs. On the directives of the Turkish government, Diyanet has been engaging in spying activities through some Imams in Nigeria, Germany and 36 other countries.
