Tijjaniyyah blames graft for terrorism

Chairman of the group Prof Abdullaah el-Okene said this in Abuja at the weekend during its 3rd Annual Conference.
He said government would not be able to win the war against terrorism if its officials fail to eschew corruption.
El-Okene said terrorism appeared in the country in the early 1980s when government officials collaborated with incom-petent religious scholars to cover up their corrupt practices.
The incompetent scholars helped the corrupt officials but later turned terrorists and corrupt government officials could not do anything to tame them, he said.
“In order to cover up their corrupt practices, government officials gave recognition to incompetent scholars and terro-rism crept in through this,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Tijanniya group said it has begun community empowerment initiatives across Nigeria to help reduce societal problems.
Consequently, members of the group are embarking on weekly contribution in states of the federation, with a view to raising money among themselves to help less privileged.
The brotherhood’s Secretary Dr Mustapha Gwadabe disclosed this during the annual conference.
He said since its establishment in 2011, the IOTB had embarked on several initiatives, which include the orientation of young children in schools over the teachings of the sects.
He said effort to register govern-ment -recognised Islamiyya junior schools with standard teaching curriculum has reached advanced stage.