Temisan Olaifa, with agency reports
An Ibadan-based Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Taofeek Akeugbagold, has identified religious radicalism as one of the factors breeding terrorism, banditry, and insecurity in Nigeria.
Akewugbagold, a former Chairman of the Oyo State Pilgrims Welfare Board (Muslim Wing), stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday.
The Islamic scholar said some preachers had brought about and passed down a lot of man-made ideologies to their followers, thus leading to religious radicalism and intolerance.
According to him, radical messages by an Islamic or Christian cleric, or any other person, promote hatred and enmity, ultimately affecting the country’s peaceful coexistence.
Akeugbagold said the country is currently facing the consequences of such radical messages as experienced by the rising rate of insecurity.
“If the Nigerian government truly wants to tackle insecurity and end banditry or terrorism, the issue of radicalism in preaching, be it in Islam, Christianity, and traditionalism, needs to be brought to the barest minimum.
“Any Islamic or Christian cleric preaching hatred or enmity is misinterpreting the Quran or the Bible because none of the scriptures preaches that,” Akeugbagold said.
He called on the Federal Government (FG) to order security agencies to arrest such religious preachers and block all external sources of terrorism funding.
Akeugbagold said Saudi Arabia acted accordingly to curb religious radicalism, thus ensuring the country’s peace.
He debunked the notion that lack of education was largely responsible for insecurity, particularly in the Northern part of the country.
According to him, some of the Northern residents are literate, especially in Islamic education.
“The tangible thing the government is missing out on, and has not addressed, is religious radicalism and their ideologies, which have been imbibed and passed on to others by religious preachers.
“In Islam, there are various schools of thought or ideology; there is the one that is liberal, and the one that takes a hardline posture, and that hardline posture is the one in the Northern part of Nigeria.
“So, the Federal Government needs to introduce certain measures to tame the hardline posture of radicalism in religious preaching to address the country’s insecurity,” he said.
Akeugbagold says Islam encourages peaceful coexistence among adherents of other faiths, noting that those preaching radicalism are misinterpreting the scripture.
He congratulated the new Minister of Defence, retired Gen. Christopher Musa, urging him to look into strict religious ideologies and do everything possible to eradicate them urgently.
