The National Imam of the Shia Muslim Community in Ghana his eminence Sheikh Abubakar Ahmad Kamaludeen has urged the people of Bawku to offer peace a chance.

“Lasting Peace and security in the Bawku Municipality lie in the people themselves. However, the municipality needs additional pressing attention from the government, policymakers, and civil society including traditional and religious leaders to find lasting peace and solution to this age-old intractable ethnic conflict.

Stakeholders must attach importance to any attempt at building and promoting cooperation at all levels, propose and discuss other possibilities before the region and the country are grappling with the possible costs of the conflict.”

Despite the heavy presence of the military and interventions from civil society, the National Peace Council, the National House of Chiefs, etc, the conflict in Bawku keeps escalating and the uphill climb to find lasting peace and solution has grown steeper for the past decades.

The killing of women and children, destruction of properties, collapse of businesses, desertion of homes, and the potential for the conflict to spill over into the entire region and beyond as al-Qaeda affiliates have been operating in neighboring Burkina Faso trying to evade security in order to carry out attacks in Ghana are grim reminders of the high level of the threat confronting the municipality, the region and the country as a whole. At this critical period, Bawku offers such a prospect for the scourge of terrorist groups currently ravaging the Sahel.

The seeming politicization of the conflict, the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons, and the covert and open perpetration of criminal activities by individuals in the area must all be identified, tried, and prosecuted to serve as a deterrence. Mamprusi, Kusasi, Mossi, Bisa, etc in the area are one as far as the concept of Creation is concerned, and as creatures of Allah, we are related either in religion or humanity. Thus, the Holy Qur`an states:

“O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you nations and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most superior of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.” Qur`an 49:13

The Case of Sheikh Abdul Jabbar in the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Organized discrimination using religious minorities for target practice in the name of Shari`ah in some parts of Nigeria has been spreading like wild bushfires in recent times specifically precipitated by intolerance and extremism.

The interpretation of religious texts to justify hate and brutality has been characterizing parts of Nigeria and must be strongly checked by the federal government, rights groups, and regional and international institutions before Nigeria becomes a rogue or lawless federation.

Apart from the brutal murder of Deborah in May 2022 for alleged blasphemy under the watch of state institutions, the death sentence issued on Sheikh Abdul-Jabbar Nasiru Kabara over alleged blasphemy and incitement by the Upper Shari`ah Court in Kano State has offered another worrying spectacle that clearly indicates that religious extremism is becoming the order of the day in Nigeria and must not go unchecked.

Nigeria is secular and must not allow criminal gangs to take the law into their own hands under the pretext of religion. We, therefore, call for the immediate release of Sheikh Abdul Jabbar and allow good governance, the rule of law, human rights, and freedom to ensure in the federation.

The Anniversary of the Murder of General Hajj Qassem Soleimani

We join the UN Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, which concluded that the air raid on Hajj Qassem Soleimani was “Unlawful”, and “Arbitrary under International Human Rights Law IHRL and a clear violation of the UN charter to strongly condemn the cowardly act against the anti-terror commander whose intervention prevented ISIS from invading European cities and the world.

The murder of Qassem Soleimani only pleased ISIS and the agents of violent extremism around the world who have recruited, trained, armed, funded, and unleashed ISIS to destabilize Syria just as they did to Libya thanks to Hajj Qassem Soleimani who gallantly fought and protected the Syrian women and children including religious sanctities like Synagogues, Churches, Mosques, Tombs, the region and the world.

It is a clear manifestation that the quest by ISIS and its Western backers to butcher Syria and destabilize the region has failed thanks to General Hajj Qassem Soleimani of ever-blessed memory.

We use this humble medium to wish the Christian community in the country and beyond Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. As the world bids adieu to 2022, we pray and hope that 2023 is the best ever that will usher in a renewed sense of peace, hope, cooperation, intra, and interreligious harmony.