Hate Speech: NSCIA Reports Reverend Father To IGP, DSS
The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of the Department of State Services to take action on Rev. Father Godfrey Igwebuike Onah, whose “hateful sermon”, it alleged, led to the recent attacks on Muslims in the southeast and south-south.
NSCIA Deputy Secretary-General Prof. Salisu Shehu, who signed the separate petitions, recalled that the council had, in a letter dated October 23, 2020, urged the police and the DSS to specially protect the lives, property and places of worship of Muslims in the southeast and south-south.
“In the said letter, we informed you about the violent assaults being unleashed on the Muslims in some parts of the zones. Some were killed and their property worth billions of Naira were looted, vandalized or set on fire. Mosques including very ancient ones built by Indigenous Igbo Muslims were burnt. Rather than abate, the persecution and violence against Muslims in the said two zones have persisted with greater intensity.”
He said on October 31, “as a result of a hateful and inciteful sermon, full of lies and fallacies, delivered by a bishop, Rev. Fr. Godfrey Igwebuike Onah, some Christian bigots unleashed violent and virulent attack on Muslims in Nsukka and burnt their mosques.
He said the recurrence of incessant arson and massacre of Muslims in the two zones, if unchecked, could ignite reprisals in other parts of the country, especially the north.
“In view of the above, the NSCIA, on behalf of the entire Nigerian Muslim Ummah hereby reiterates our call on you sir to rise up to this challenge and protect the lives and property of Muslims in the south-east and south-south as bonafide citizens of Nigeria who should live peacefully in any part of the country.
“Specifically, we also implore you to as a matter of urgency interrogate Reverend Father Godfrey Igwebuike Onah on his hate speech, inciteful sermon of lies fabricated to provoke hatred for the Muslims,” the petition partly read.
