Kano bombing: Nigeria government has failed to protect her people, says Sultan-led JNI

The Jama'atu Nasril Islam, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammed Sa'ad Abubakar III, said on Sunday that the multiple explosions in the Kano Central Mosque was an indication that the Nigerian government has failed in her duty to protect her people.

Addressing journalists in Kaduna on Sunday, the Secretary-General of the JNI, Dr. Khalid Abubakar-Aliyu, he had while condemning the multiple attacks on the Kano Central Mosque, urged Muslims to take defensive measures permitted within the law to protect themselves since the government had clearly failed to do so.

He said the JNI as a body would not be cowed in observing the way and manner Muslims were being killed in the North, adding that the Islamic body was shocked and pained by the attack on the Kano mosque and the consequent death of over 120 worshippers.

He blamed the government for the bombings in the north, noting that it appeared the government wanted to justify the essence of the extension of the emergency rule in the three North-East states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

'But must blood be spilled to justify the extension of state of emergency? Why is it that any time the ineffective state of emergency is about to elapse and/or an extension is being sought, attacks are carried out with sophistication?

'Are we really aware of the repercussions of spilling the blood of innocent souls? What is the essence of the government's war on terror and its attendant huge budget? Where are the intelligence and security agencies?

'Can we afford to continue relying on them for our safety and security? Why? We ask ad infinitum with no satisfactory answers,” he stated.

Abubakar-Aliyu said that, 'Without mincing words, Nigeria is being misgoverned to the brink!”

He said the JNI condemned the multiple bomb blasts and urged the Muslim community to recite special prayer to end the insurgents' activities in the North.

Abubakar-Aliyu  also wondered why government was yet to prosecute anybody in the coordinated attacks that occurred in Kano last year.

'JNI will not be deterred nor cowed in observing the way and manner Muslims are being killed in Nigeria, particularly in the North,' he added.