The Plateau State Chapter of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) under the leadership of the Emir of Wase, Dr Muhammad Sambo Haruna, has faulted the submission of the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and other groups on the rebuilding of the Jos Main Market.
There have been arguments on whether or not to build the market following the agreement between the state government and Jaiz Bank.
The bank, according to the state government, is the financier of the project, a development that CAN said the project should be put on hold.
The JNI, in a statement signed by the state Secretary, Salem Musa Umar, said the statement was disgusting and provocative to the Muslims in the state and an affront to Islam.
“Of particular concern to us was a trending video in social and mainstream media where someone was speaking under a clear banner that stated, Concerned Christians of Plateau.
“We wonder since when the rebuilding of the Jos Main Market turned into a religious issue that religious bodies will use it to cast aspersions at and abuse Muslims and Islam?”
The body expressed shock that the person in the video described Muslims as terrorists and accused them of burning down the market when half of the shop owners and operators at the burnt market were Muslims.
The JNI said its stand was not just because Jaiz Bank was involved but because it believed in the viability and desirability of having the main market back to function in the interest of all in the state.
“We, therefore, call on all citizens in the state, especially our brothers in faith to eschew any form or bitterness that might have been implanted in their minds by some dubious politicians and support the move by this administration to restore the Jos Main Market into full use,” the statement added.
