The Chairman, Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa’kamatus Sunnah,  Katsina State, Sheikh Yakubu Musa, has urged youths to shun the planned nationwide protest against economic hardship for peaceful coexistence in the country.

Mr Musa made the appeal while addressing Muslim faithful shortly after Friday prayer at Al-Sanawiyya Mosque, Katsina.

He said that protest was against the Islamic religion, hence the need for all the Muslim faithful to abstain from participating in it.

The cleric, however, said that though there was hardship in the country, protest was not the proper way to get out of it.  

He said, “Instead of getting out of that hardship, we may end up jumping into a bigger one. Like here in Katsina, we are also disturbed by insecurity. We should shun the planned protest. We should not be part of it. Our youths should also shun from being part of it. Because it could destroy the nation, we have seen what happened in some countries where as a result of protest, the countries had been thrown into war and total destruction.’’

The cleric added that they had informed the government on the hardship being experienced in the country and the need for the governments to intensify efforts in taking measures that would bring succour to the citizens.

On the Samoa agreement, the cleric said that representatives from various Islamic sects had met with the Federal Government representatives on the matter.

He added, “We have met and discussed with the Federal Government’s representatives who told us that LGBTQ was not part of the Samoa agreement. Those who signed the agreement swore to Allah that LGBTQ was not contained in the agreement.”

Mr Musa said that the scholars constituted a committee of experts to study the agreement with a view to finding out whether LGBTQ clause was part of it or not.

“Our professional lawyers are now studying the whole agreement and will feed us back after their investigation.

“So, we should pray for the committee to do a thorough job. We pray that Allah will enable them to detect that if it is in the content. If that is the case, we will then pressurise the government to remove it,” he assured.

Mr Musa faulted those criticising clerics that they refused to tell the government about the real situation in the country.

(NAN)