Man Behind Northern Deadly Riots, Mohammed Yusuf’s Mentor, Says Shia Worse Than Boko Haram

Datti Ahmad of SCSN
  • Shia Muslims Pose Greater Danger than Boko Haram– Datti Ahmad’s Sharia Council Scribe says at el-Rufai panel
  • Datti Ahmad was the man behind the beauty pageant deadly riots
  • Datti Ahmad was the man behind the 2001 ‘retaliatory’ riots that led to hundreds of innocent Christian and southerner deaths in Kano and rest parts of the north
  • Datti Ahmad was the one who condemned polio vaccine and made Nigeria lag behind globally
  • Datti Ahmad has always been the secret negotiator with Boko Haram

I saw the above article on the Twitter handle of one of the sidekicks of the Nigerian President Buhari in social media platforms, JJ. Omojuwa (@omojuwa), and I decided to write a rejoinder to it.

First who are the “Supreme Council of Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN)” that the so-called Nafiu Baba Ahmad is its “Secretary General”? The SCSN is an ultra-Wahhabi group that is directly sponsored by Saudi Arabia and its leader is one Ibrahim Datti Ahmad who is know in Nigeria to have close ties to #BokoHaram. When the former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan wanted to negotiate with the BokoHaram thugs, Ibrahim Datti Ahmad was one of the people they mentioned that they trusted.

On 13th February, 2016 I wrote an article titled “Plots against the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN)” and said in the article: “On exactly Wednesday (03/February/2016), a meeting took place at the Hall of the Halal Fountain Hotel, Kaduna, that was facilitated by the Nigerian government and hosted by a known Saudi front in Nigeria ‘Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN)’ that is headed by one Dr.Ibrahim Datti Ahmad. The meeting attracted representative from neo – Wahhabi, ultra – Wahhabi and some Sunni groups in Nigeria.”

And in the article I mentioned some of the characters that attended that meeting that included this said “Nafiu Baba Ahmad”:

“Some of the characters that attended the meeting included the following:
-Manir Jafaru (Chiroman Zazzau)
-Sayyadi Ibrahim (son of Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi)
-Yakubu Musa Kafanchan (Izala)
-Abubakar Mujahid (JTI)
-Aminu Gusau (JTI)
-Nafi’u Baba Ahmad
-Namadi Musa
-Sani Abdulkadir Khalid
-Aliyu Sani etc.”

At that meeting Ibrahim Datti Ahmad declared:”The Shia Movement has a potential of posing a more dangerous threat considering its large numerical strength, organizational capacity, sophisticated methods of deception, its extensive tentacles through embedment in every strata of government including the armed forces, the police and the intelligence services. Added to these is their assured and we’ll known foreign backers, principally Iran and Lebanon. The capacity for mischief of Iran and Hezbollah are there for all to see in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Syria, a clear testimony of Iran’s determination to fight the Sunnis, to a finish.”

So the claim that “Shiites pose greater danger to Nigeria than the BokoHaram terrorists” is a Global agenda of #Wahhabism and these bloodthirsty Wahhabi uses such proclamations to convice their ignorant followers to stage terrorist attacks against innocent Shia civilians in various Muslim countries.

The murderous BokoHaram insurgency is just more than 5 year-old but it has killed more than 40,000 innocent Nigerians and rendered more than 2 million Nigerians homeless. And these figures are just for Nigeria, the murderous #BokoHaram terrorists had killed thousands of innocent people in Chad, Niger Republic and Cameroon. While the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) that is under the leadership of His Eminence Sheikh Ibraheem #Zakzaky do not have any statistical record of killing anybody in more than 37 years of its existence.

The allegation by Nafiu Baba Ahmad that “the Shi’ites had recently started adopting Boko Haram strategy of intimidation and elimination of Ulamas who were opposed to their doctrines, saying that many have refrained from testifying before the commission for fear of the unknown” is baseless and groundless that can never be backed by any witness, facts or figures. The #IMN is guided by the Islamic injunction of the sacredness of all human lives and is too civilized to kill those that are opposed to its doctrines because among all Muslim groups such behaviour is the notorious speciality of the terrorism – enabled Wahhabism that Nafiu Baba Ahmad symbolized. IMN believes in dialogue, intellectual discussions, rational thinking and freedom of expression in discharging all its programs and activities.

Finally, the call by Nafiu Baba Ahmad that “the society to be involved in checkmating the Shi’ites” is a call to violence against law abiding and peace loving Nigerians. We have it on good authority that ultra-Wahhabi groups sponsored by Saudi Arabia like SCSN plan to start attacking the programs and activities of IMN and here is Nafiu Baba Ahmad making a public confession on that. Nigerians and the International community should hold the Nigerian government that backed and facilitate these intolerant Wahhabi groups responsible for any attacks on the programs and activities of IMN.

Harun Elbinawi
[email protected]
Elbinawi.wordpress.com

Related: Below are important excerpts from the related article with an area from the Guardian that shows Datti Ahmad’s links with terror.

Guardian: Sheikh Ibrahim Datti Ahmad, defender of the Faith

Over the years, Ahmad has shown that he can go to any length to defend Islam. In August 2001, he said that the SCSN would seek reprisals against the killing of northerners in the South. And when in October 2001, hundreds of southern Christians were killed in Kano, by Muslim rioters, it was alleged that Ahmed inspired them.

In 2002, in the wake of a Miss World pageant billed to hold in Abuja, a newspaper, in a bid to drum support for the pageant, made a comment that was deemed disrespectful to the Prophet Mohammed. Ahmad, alongside others, called on the Muslims Ummah to rise and defend the Islamic Faith.A bloody riot broke out thereafter in Kano and Kaduna; lives and properties were lost.

The medical practitioner is one that never shies away from any fight aimed at protecting his Muslim brothers, no matter the controversy.

–Still in 2003, Ahmad said: “The council (SCSN) harboured strong reservations on the safety of our population not least because of our recent experience in the Pfizer scandal, when our people were used as guinea pigs with the approval of the Federal Ministry of Health and that of all the relevant United Nation agencies.”

His claims led to the suspension of the polio campaign. Other Muslim clerics elsewhere like in India and Pakistan followed Ahmad’s lead.

It is difficult to say that Sheikh Ahmad doesn’t care for the interest of his Muslim brothers because he is dedicated to making their lives better. At the height of the debate over the necessity of Jaiz Islamic Bank in the polity, it was not necessarily the arguments of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, that settled matters for the bank. The matter was settled when Sheikh Ahmad threatened that Muslims were ready to go to war if anybody stood on the way of the proposed non-interest banking. Since then, the voices of the opposition to the non-interest banking have faded.

Ahmad courted controversy when in 2004 after the Nigerian “Taliban” under the leadership of Aminu Tashen-Ilimi killed policemen in their insurgency, Ahmad said of them: “These are very sophisticated youth. They are not just the trash. I can understand why they did it. I’m not in a position to say whether I support it or not, but they must have their reasons.” (Ref: http://www.zoominfo.com/#!search/profile/person?personId=136457752&targetid=profile )

To date, Ahmad still leads the Supreme Council of Sharia Law and many allege that he appears to tacitly support acts of terrorism carried out by Islamists.

The dialogue with Boko Haram has stirred the kind of controversy that has dogged Datti Ahmad’s paths.  In an interview with The Guardian, the Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity) Dr Reuben Abati said that even the spokespersons of the Boko Haram have admitted, that the group has mutated. “So it is not unusual that you will find a situation whereby a variant of the mutation may express a view that sounds like it’s contradicting the other,” he added.

This observation prevailed as some members of the group denied any dialogue with government through Ahmad and that they even didn’t know him. Meanwhile another group, probably the leadership of the “real Boko Haram,” confirmed a dialogue with the Federal Government.

Ahmad had on behalf of the SCSN proposed to President Jonathan to work out a confidential initiative for the Federal Government to dialogue with Boko Haram. The President’s Principal Private Secretary, Ambassador Hassan Tukur was ordered to coordinate Ahmad’s group, but the latter soon claimed that Tukur sabotaged the confidentiality of the process. The Ambassador denied the allegation.

Soon after, the Sheikh, unhappy with government officials, who failed to keep their own part of the bargain, stormed out of the deal.  However, Sheikh Ahmad, who is known to be a man of few words might, with the renewed effort by the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF), still be the man to broker peace between the Federal Government and members of the Boko Haram.

In quitting the talks, Ahmad in a statement he signed, accused the government of insincerity and of leaking details of the talks to the media.

Several groups of Muslims have prevailed on Sheikh Ahmed to continue to lead the negotiation in order to end the insurgency.

A group, “Muslims Against Terror Brotherhood” in a statement stated: “Enough has been enough. Boko Haram has done nothing to further your objectives and your Sharia plan for Nigeria. Indeed Boko Haram has only painted our noble Deen in poor light.

“You founded the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria with the noble aim of implementing Sharia law. This has been implemented to great degree in the Northern states. This was done without shedding of blood and taking of innocent lives, all praise due to Allah.

“The North has been reported as the best states for doing business in Nigeria, due to the peace and tranquility that existed, up until the Boko Haram menace came up and started the killings, frustrating Christians and Muslims and making the entire Northern environment into hell fire.”

Another group stated: “Dear Dr. Ahmad, we are very worried by the trend of events. You were negotiating a truce, but you walked out of it. You left the talks as you put it because of conditions, which you set. And you frustrated efforts at bringing peace and saving lives of Muslims and Christians. You complained that the talks were made public. Do you think the noble prophet in whose memory we behave as Muslims, will walk away from talks that can save life because his role is made public? What are you hiding?    You do not want the world to know that you made peace? Or is it that you do not want the world to know that you had a role in the genesis of Boko Haram?”  Read full article

Update: Related Datti Ahmad News on the web from 2004: Sovereign conference or war, threats Read full here