NSCIA condemns New Zealand terrorist attacks

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) under the leadership of its President General and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has condemned last Friday’s terrorist attacks in New Zealand.

The Deputy Secretary-General of the council, Prof. Salisu Shehu, said, in a statement on Monday, that the attack by the Australian citizen, Brenton Tarrant, on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, as Muslims converged for the Friday’s Juma’at worship, remains condemnable.

According to him, in the attack that was unprecedented in the annals of the country, at least 50 Muslim worshipers across various nationalities were gunned down while more than 40 others sustained varying degrees of injury.

“While many right-thinking people and governments across the world have expressed outrage at such a heinous crime and mass murder of various nationalities, there are those whose hearts are blotted by hatred and bigotry to the extent that every crime against Muslims is welcome. A typical example is the Australian Senator Fraser Anning who still blamed Muslims for being attacked,” Shehu said.

According to him, from the Imam and his associate killed in the US in August 2016, the murder of six Muslims at a Quebec City Mosque, Canada, in January 2017, the killing of a 58-year old Muslim after a night prayer in London in June 2017 to the recent one, among many others, many Muslims have died and are still dying because of the monstrosity of Islamophobia.

He said that in all these attacks and others, the religious identities of the perpetrators have always been downplayed because they were Christians, but that if a criminal who happens to bear a Muslim name is involved in a crime, his religion would be dragged into it.

He therefore urged Muslims across the country and the world to remain patient and prayerful in the face of all attacks and provocations.

He also commends the New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden, for calling the attack what it was, “a terrorist attack”, and for the efforts being made by her and her government to engage the Muslim community in this sorrowful period.

“That is an example of leadership that is lacking in many world leaders. The Council also acknowledges the solidarity of the Christchurch community and the good citizens of New Zealand,” Shehu said.