Renowned medical doctor and President of the Supreme Council of Sharia in Nigeria, Dr. Ibrahim Datti Ahmed is the only man who can stop Boko Haram hostilities, a Muslim organisation has revealed.
In a passionate letter of appeal to Ahmed, published by Daily Trust newspaper, the Muslim group called on the highly respected Northern leader to "call off the Boko Haram beasts," adding that the Islamists have done nothing to further Ahmed's objectives and his Sharia plan for Nigeria.
"Enough is enough. Boko Haram has done nothing to further your objectives and your Sharia plan for Nigeria. Indeed, Boko Haram with their devillish tactics have only painted our noble Deen in bad light," the group wrote.
It recalled that Ahmed founded the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria with the noble aim of implementing the Sharia Law while nothing that it has been implemented to a great extent in some Northern states, without shedding blood or killing innocent people.
According to the Muslims, before the advent of Boko Haram, the North was reported even in foreign editorials as "the best states for doing business in Nigeria" because of the peace existing in the states then.
The group noted with regret that since the menace of Boko Haram, with their killings, maiming and arson, they have frustrated Christians and Muslims from doing business in the North and they have turned the entire North to a hell on earth.
The Muslims said that Ahmed who has friends across Nigeria including Christians like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, will not be happy to see Boko Haram slaughter any of his friends.
They quoted a letter written by columnist Bala Muhammad published in the Saturday Weekly Trust of 05 May, 2012, "you have spoken. And Nigeria has heard you. Indeed, you have every right to be angry and frustrated. Your single-minded initiative to intervene in this ongoing national calamity was unprecedented."
Muhammad recalled that some years back, a former Nigerian president said this of Ahmed: "Is it the same Dr. I. D. Ahmed that I know? That brilliant University of Ibadan-trained medical doctor, one of the North's first? The Dr. Ahmed I know to be a core nationalist and patriot? What got into him to become a religious fanatic?" He acknowledge Ahmed as a Muslim leader who cannot be bribed or compromised.
Quoting several religious activities and utterances of Ahmed that made him a trustworthy Muslim leader, the group wrote: "please, we Nigerians, we Muslims, we beg you, call off Boko Haram."
Meanwhile, the Leadership newspaper has reported the readiness of Boko Haram members to cease fire on two conditions after years of frequent bomb attacks on security formations, religious houses and killings of innocent citizens within the northern states.
The group has named the president of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, Sheik Ahmed Datti, as their mediator. It said the choice of Datti was based on the fact that its former leader, the late Mohammed Yusuf, served as a member that represented Borno State in the council of Sharia in Nigeria, and that the cleric could be trusted not to betray the confidence reposed in him to speak for the Boko Haram sect, a source close to the group told LEADERSHIP yesterday.
The source added that Boko Haram was ever ready to stop the bombings in the next four weeks only if the Federal Government would release all its arrested members as well as guarantee the security and safety of all members whose names would be given to the federal government through Datti.
The source said: "What the boko haram sect is asking the Federal Government now is to give them the assurance that once they come to the public after the hostilities, their safety and security would be guaranteed.
"The sect members have also agreed that once the two conditions are met, within four weeks, they will put an end to the hostilities. I am afraid, the members of the Boko Haram sect may resume to more action should the Federal Government fail to heed the conditions."
-PM News