Nigeria's highest Islamic body said on Sunday
that a string of recent massive blasts and
shootings in the northwestern city of Kano
had been made to justify the extension of the
emergency rule in the restive northeastern
region.
"Why is it that any time the ineffective state
of emergency was about to elapse, or an
extension was being sought, attacks were
carried out with sophistication?"
Khalid Aliyu,
the spokesman of Jama'atu Nasrul Islam (JNI)
asked.
"Why must blood be spilled to justify the
extension of the state of emergency?" he
asked again in a statement.
A large number of residents of Nigeria's
northeastern region agree. There is a similar
view among a large number of experts on the
Boko Haram crisis. The government, however,
rejects such attitudes.
JNI said that heightened attacks at times
when the emergency rule was about to come
to an end raise suspicion about who could be
behind the violence for which the insurgent
Boko Haram is often blamed.
"JNI will not be deterred nor cowed in
observing the way and manner Muslims are
being killed in Nigeria, particularly in the
north," the group said.
It added that it was shocked and pained
beyond words over news of the Friday bomb
blasts in Kano.
The blasts had claimed the lives of over
hundred Muslims as they were praying at a
mosque.
Soon after the blasts, worshippers, who
attempted to escape, were also targeted by
gunfire.
JNI referred to a series of coordinated bomb
blasts that rocked Kano on January 20, 2012. It
was a Friday too.
It said nobody had been prosecuted against
the background of the blasts, nor anything
was done to protect the lives of ordinary
Nigerians.
The Muslim group called on Nigerian
authorities to be "manifestly committed to
their responsibility of protecting the lives and
properties" of the people, because no
development can occur in an unstable
environment.
It also called on mosque preachers and their
followers to intensify special prayers with the
aim of ending violence across Nigeria,
especially in the northern region.
Nigeria first declared a six-month emergency
rule in the Boko Haram-wracked northeastern
region in May 2013, a measure that had twice
been extended.
Current efforts to extend the measure have
been rejected by an arm of the parliament
and many stakeholders in the region, while
opinion is still divided inside the Senate.
A debate is due on the matter in the Senate on
Tuesday with very slim chances of extending
the measure.
A concurrence of both arms of the bicameral
legislature is required to approve the
President's request to extend the state of
emergency. The House of Representatives has
already turned down the request.
Nigeria has been battling the Boko Haram
insurgency since 2009. Thousands of people
have already been killed, while others
displaced because of the fighting.
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