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  • JNI condemns abduction of Kebbi school girls, calls for urgent action

    JNI condemns abduction of Kebbi school girls, calls for urgent action

    The Sultan of Sokoto-led Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) has condemned the abduction of schoolgirls from the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School (GGCSS) in Maga, Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State, and called for urgent action to secure their release.

    In a statement issued Wednesday, the JNI described the incident as “heartless, tragic and utterly avoidable,” lamenting that it comes just days after a Security Summit held in Birnin-Kebbi on November 10, 2025.

    The Sultan highlighted that this latest attack is part of a disturbing trend, recalling previous abductions in Chibok, Dapchi, Kankara, and Kagara.

    The statement emphasised that the recurrent nature of such abductions is a blow to parents and communities, noting that security surveillance around schools should have been adequate, especially given the ongoing threats to boarding students, particularly girls. “This is too much to bear on the parents,” JNI said.

    JNI, through the Secretary-General, Prof. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, said the organisation has been monitoring developments closely and expressed concern over apparent gaps in security coordination in Kebbi State. The statement cited the recent abduction and release of the Deputy Speaker of the Kebbi State House of Assembly, suggesting a worrying pattern of brazen criminality.

    According to JNI, repeated attacks on schoolgirls show that security operatives often act reactively rather than proactively, with little information provided to reassure anxious parents and guardians. “Do we really understand the magnitude of these repeated events?” the statement asked.

    The statement drew parallels between Maga and previous attacks in Chibok and Dapchi, noting that the modus operandi of the perpetrators bears similarity to past commando-style operations. JNI questioned how the attackers gained access to the school and whether security operatives employed intelligence strategies that could have prevented the abduction.

    Beyond the immediate tragedy, JNI warned that such abductions are a potent barrier to girl-child education in Northern Nigeria. “No parent will now be comfortable allowing their daughters to attend unprotected schools. And the North is the loser,” the statement said, urging northern governors to take decisive action.

    The JNI extended condolences to the families of the killed Vice-Principal of the school, the parents of the kidnapped girls, and prayed for the safe return of the victims. The organisation also offered prayers for the strength and protection of all personnel engaged in combating criminality across Nigeria.

    In a strong call to action, JNI urged governments at all levels to do everything possible to ensure the return of the abducted girls from Maga, Dapchi, Chibok, and other affected areas. “It is time for decisive action, no more rhetoric. Enough should be enough,” the statement stressed.

    Read Also: JNI calls for diplomatic approach to U.S. military action threat

    The religious body also called on Muslim communities to engage in Qunootun-Nawazil, special prayers during times of calamity, as well as the remembrance of Allah (Adhkar) and supplications in Sujood, as tools to ease fear and uncertainty amid the country’s security challenges.

    JNI recommended maximum security for all girls’ schools, both boarding and day schools, while urging vigilance from school management and authorities to prevent further attacks.

    The statement further warned North-Central governors to be on red alert, noting that while the North-East and North-West have experienced abductions, the North-Central region could be next due to forested and remote areas. “Paying lip service is no longer enough; proactive security measures must be taken,” JNI said.

    JNI, however, called for collaboration between all levels of government and security agencies to nip insecurity in the bud and avert a potential national crisis. “Government must rise against the tide of insecurity in whatever guise, before it becomes cataclysmic for the Nigerian state,” the statement concluded.

  • JNI asks Fed Govt, states to rescue Nigerians from hardship

    JNI asks Fed Govt, states to rescue Nigerians from hardship

    Sultan   Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III led –Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI)  has called on the federal  and state governments to urgently rescue Nigerians from the current hardship facing them.

    “We have been inundated with reports and pleas from ordinary Nigerians, expressing their anguish over the soaring prices of necessities,” JNI said in a statement by its Secretary-General, Prof. Khalid   Aliyu.

    The group blamed food insecurity, inflation and insecurity” for the distress ordinary Nigerians have found themselves in.

    In the statement titled need to address the Inflation crisis in Nigeria,’  the JNI noted that many Nigerians have through print, electronic and social media”  lamented about the difficulties confronting them.

    It also cited the recent Minna and Lokoja protests as a way some   Nigerians have communicated their distressing state.

     The statement partly reads:  “The JNI under the leadership of His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, with all sense of responsibility calls on the Federal Government of Nigeria to urgently intervene over the difficulties Nigerians are passing through.

    “In light of the troubling impact of hoarding and inflation on the availability and affordability of essential goods and services, particularly food items, the JNI is therefore compelled to raise its voice on the matter.

    “We have been inundated with reports and pleas from ordinary Nigerians, expressing their anguish over the soaring prices of necessities. We urgently call on the Federal and state governments to intervene before the situation worsens.

    “Likewise, all those arrested during the protests should be released and future recurrence be avoided through synergy and prompt interventions. This call has become necessary such that citizens would not be further provoked.

    “Government functionaries are also cautioned to choose their words very well while addressing citizens on the matter. More so, the impending Ramadan fast heightens the urgency of our call, as access to three square meals becomes a luxury for many households.

    “As believers, we understand that food security is synonymous with home security.  We equally implore the business community to resist the temptation of hoarding for selfish gains; instead, they should make essential commodities more affordable, by lowering prices, to serve as an act of charity for them.

    “Let us emulate the generosity of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by being more generous and kind, especially during Ramadan. As we approach Ramadan, we urge all levels of government to extend assistance to the less fortunate, as reports of their plight are both alarming and worrying.

    “All stakeholders must unite in patriotic fervour to implement measures that mitigate the impact of rising food costs, ensuring Nigeria’s continued path of growth and development is not halted.

    “In this time of challenge, we pray for guidance, protection, good health, and peace for all leaders, and for tranquillity to prevail in Nigeria. May Allah, the Most High, also provide the quickest relief to all problems bedevilling the Nigerian state.”

    Read Also: JNI: Plateau mayhem planned to cause chaos

     Also yesterday, the  Council of Imams and Ulama in Kaduna State called on Governor Uba Sani to prevail on local government chairmen to provide palliatives to the people.

    The council, at a news conference, warned that it would be dangerous to neglect  “hungry poor citizens”  at this moment of hardship.

    Leaders of the council, Sheikh Aminu Umdah and Sheikh Idris Muhammad Sabon-Gari said the cries of the people echo the need for immediate relief.

    They said:  “We are compelled to address the distressing situation of hardship and severe hunger, our people are currently facing, as a result of the government’s unthoughtful policy of fuel subsidy removal.

    “We urge the state government to leverage its resources and influence to compel local government chairmen to actively participate in providing essential aid to the distressed masses.

    “Collaboration at all levels of governance is imperative to ensure a comprehensive and timely response to the pressing challenges faced by the people of Kaduna State.

    “The recent distribution of food items and financial aid by the Federal Government to members of federal parliaments and state governments has unfortunately left a significant portion of our beloved state grappling with unprecedented hardship.

    “The cries of our people echo the need for immediate relief. We therefore in earnest, call on the Governor of Kaduna State Mal. Uba Sani, and the federal parliaments of Kaduna State to as a matter of urgency, provide succour to the distressed individuals through distribution of food items, to the deserving individuals across Kaduna State.”

     They, however, called on the residents toe the path of peace while awaiting government’s intervention.

  • JNI cautions politicians against arming thugs

    The Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) yesterday cautioned politicians against unguarded utterances and to stop arming thugs to escalate the situation.

    This followed the crisis in some parts of the country.

    A statement in Kaduna by its Secretary General, Dr Khalid Aliyu, said there were indications of political interest in recent civil disorders in parts of the country.

    Aliyu condemned recent crisis in Adamawa and Kaduna states, saying the problems were allowed to fester by the failure of government to properly punish the perpetrators.

    “Government, on the other hand, particularly the Judiciary, should dispense justice promptly and appropriately, as there are cries over the delay tactics within the system, which have given impetus to the recurring communal crisis in Nigeria,” he said.

    Aliyu noted that the recurring crisis in Kasuwan Magani, Kaduna State, has claimed many lives with very little done by the government to bring those responsible to justice.

    The JNI scribe regretted that “human lives do not matter to many of us in Nigeria”.

    He added: “At will, people just take up arms to maim, kill and sometimes slaughter fellow human beings without any sober reflection. Yet, government often looks the other way on the alleged culprits.

    “Something must be wrong with our psyche.”

  • JNI donates food items to prison inmates

    The Jamatu Nasril Islam (JNI) in Jigawa has donated food items and drinks to inmates in Madachi Medium Security Prison Hadejia, in Hadejia Local Government Area of the state.

    Its Secretary, Malam Muhammad Babangida, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse yesterday.

    Babangida said the gesture was part of the group’s assistance to inmates in the spirit of Ramadan fasting.

    “This is not the only facility that benefitted from the gesture, many prisons in the state benefited since the commencement of Ramadan fasting.

    He added that the gesture was part of the JNI’s efforts in complementing the Federal and State government’s effort in providing services to the inmates.

    “The JNI feels it should contribute its quota to the wellbeing of the prison inmates in the state, particularly during this Ramadan fasting,” the secretary said.

    The scribe urged wealthy individuals, corporate bodies and organisations to assist the inmates and other less privileged in the society.

    According to him, such gesture will go a long way to enable the inmates improve and make themselves better citizens.

  • CAN blasts JNI, Garba Shehu for ‘justifying ungodly killings by herdsmen’

    CAN blasts JNI, Garba Shehu for ‘justifying ungodly killings by herdsmen’

    THE Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)  yesterday  accused the  Jama’atu Nasril Islam, (JNI) and the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, of  attempting to “justify the ungodly killings by herdsmen” across the country.

    Secretary-General of CAN, the Reverend  Musa Asake, said in Abuja that statements and actions of JNI leaders and Shehu gave them out as  protecting the killer herdsmen and attempting to defend the indefensible.

    The  JNI had accused CAN of unnecessarily over heating the polity “through provocative and blatant misinformation,”  while Shehu asked  Asake to focus on his religious calling and stay out of political matters after CAN criticized the federal government over its handling of the killings by herdsmen.

    To JNI, Asake said: that “Instead of facing the reality and admit its ungodly complicity with the Fulani terrorists, the JNI leadership at its press conference held in Kaduna on Sunday January 21, 2018, embarked upon character assassination, acrimony, vulgar abuse in their futile attempt to justify their ungodly, unpatriotic and wicked support for the murderous Fulani herdsmen who are also enjoying the complicity of the security agencies whose headships are occupied by the JNI’s cronies at the expense of the unity and progress of our dear country, Nigeria.

    “It is an open secret that the criminal activities of their boys have gone to the extreme because of the tacit encouragement they are getting from the leadership of the JNI, the way and manner they did for the Boko Haram terrorists when they began thinking they were spreading Islam in the country.

    “There was never a time the JNI has come out publicly to condemn the criminal activities of the Fulani herdsmen since they have begun killing and maiming the innocent all because most of their activities were targeted at Christians in the Northcentral, Enugu, Ondo, Ekiti and a host of others.

    “If otherwise, how come that it was the Press Conference addressed by CAN that forced the JNI to break its ungodly silence over the evil in the land, that is being perpetrated by the people they not only know too well but they have been protecting, for religious and tribal sentiments, which literally tied the hands of the security chiefs who also share same sentiments.

    “May we suggest to his Eminence, the President of Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, to reach into the community of educated Muslims and find serious minded individuals that could engage in serious national issues to speak for JNI.”

    On Shehu, the CAN scribe said: “Unfortunately for him, in his bid to defend President Muhammadu Buhari, whose government’s record for nepotism, favoritism and discrimination is second to none, Shehu goofed.

    “For obvious reasons, it seems to me that Garba Shehu is ignorant of the function of the Church to the society. As a Servant of God and a Minister of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, I have a divine mandate to be a voice to the voiceless, to condemn the evil in the land and to praise or criticize the government as the need arises.”

     

  • CAN, JNI should be scrapped – Catholic Priest

    CAN, JNI should be scrapped – Catholic Priest

    A Catholic Priest, Rev. Father Gabriel Teruwose Ngbea has asked the government to immediately ban the activities of religious umbrella bodies like the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) as a way of stemming the tide of the religiously motivated crisis in the country. 

    The priest’s suggestion is coming just as Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom said the major problems facing the country can be traced to religion and politics, saying if the nation can get its religious and political practices right, the nation will be great again.

    Rev. Father Ngbea’s suggestion is contained in his book “Constitutional Misconception of Secularism: Implications for Politics and Religion” which was presented in Abuja on Tuesday. 

    He said that the government should replace the two bodies with an independent body to be known as “Religious Equity Commission” whose mandate should be to ensure that there is no discrimination among Nigerians on the basis of their faith. 

    Father Ngbea said on page 302 of his book that “CAN and JNI should be proscribed because apart from their failed mandate of advancing religious interests these bodies have constituted themselves into a political organisation often deployed to pursue political interests.” 

    According to him, in order to keep faith with section 20 of the Nigerian constitution and to ensure that Nigerians practiced their faith in a manner that is devoid of discrimination he is proposing  “the establishment of an independent Religious Equity Commission whose mandate should be to ensure that there is no discrimination among Nigerians on basis of faith. CAN and JNI should be completely banned in the country.” 

    Chairman of the occasion and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, however, cautioned Nigerians to be mindful of others who may not think, act or believe in what they do, saying the country’s diversity ought to be her strength and not otherwise. 

    Atiku said the first country’s national constitution carefully considered the diverse character as a nation and chose the secular path in order to accommodate the diversity and peaceful coexistence. 

    Represented by the former Speaker of the Plateau state House of Assembly, George Daika, the former Vice President said: “Let me, however, use this opportunity to remind us all that at this delicate moment in our nation’s history – with separatist agitations, militancy of the religious and secular varieties, calls for restructuring, and jostling for future elections, we should all be mindful of and sensitive to the feelings and preferences of those who may not think the way we think, the way we speak or worship, the way we worship or belong to the same political party as us. Our diversity ought to be our strength and, together, we can still build the Nigeria of our dreams.”

    Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom, however, said politics and religion have been at the heart of the problems confronting the country, adding that “today in our country, two things are very important, politics and religion and if we can get it right, we will be able to make Nigeria great.”

    He said that both Christianity and Islam all seek to bring love and peace to mankind, adding that it his hope that these two religions will work toward bringing peace and love to the country. 

    The governor, however, blamed organised Labour for employing the blackmail tactics over the payment of workers salaries in addressing the brewing Labour crisis in the state. 

    Archbishop of Abuja Catholic archdiocese, Cardinal John Onaiyekan who was represented by Rev. Father Bologo said that religion and politics have been taken too far in our country and that this has caused a lot of problems for the country. 

    “Nigeria should not have been where it is now but because we are using religion to divide the country and to cause disaffection. Nigeria is 90% on the wrong path as far as religion and politics is concerned,” he said. 

  • JNI prays for Buhari’s quick recovery

    JNI prays for Buhari’s quick recovery

    The Jigawa State chapter of the Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI) has held a special prayer for the quick recovery of President Muhammadu Buhari and his safe return to the country.
    Secretary Mala Muhammad Babangida, who spoke to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the weekend, said the prayer was conducted on Friday in Miga Local Government.
    He explained that a special prayer was also offered for the country’s peace and economic prosperity.
    According to him, the gesture is to seek God’s intervention in the quest to overcome insecurity in the country.
    Babangida hoped that fervent prayers by Nigerians would help the Buhari administration overcome challenges.

  • JNI prays for Buhari’s quick recovery

    The Jigawa State chapter of the Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI) has held a special prayer for the quick recovery of President Muhammadu Buhari and his safe return to the country.

    Secretary Mala Muhammad Babangida, who spoke to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the weekend, said the prayer was conducted on Friday in Miga Local Government.

    He explained that a special prayer was also offered for the country’s peace and economic prosperity.

    According to him, the gesture is to seek God’s intervention in the quest to overcome insecurity in the country.

    Babangida hoped that fervent prayers by Nigerians would help the Buhari administration overcome challenges.

  • Kano Killing: Un-islamic, perpetrated by criminals -JNI

    Apex Islamic body in the North, Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) has faulted the murdering of Mrs. Bridget Agbahime for alleged blasphemy of the Prophet Muhammed.
    JNI in a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu described the act as un-islamic and perpetrated by miscreants and criminals.
    Mrs. Agbahime, 74 was lynched last Thursday at Kano market by mob in presence of her husband over a false alarm of blasphemy.
    ” With pains and sobriety JNI received with shock the most unfortunate alleged blasphemy of the Prophet (SAW) by one Mrs. Bridget Agbahime that was reported to have happened in Wambai Area of Kano, Kano State and another one that claimed four lives in Pandogari, Rafi Local Government Council of Niger State.
    “These ugly incidences utterly stand condemned and are regarded as criminal and un-Islamic, perpetrated by miscreants and criminals.
    “It is hardly believable that such dastardly acts could happen in the name of religion, considering the various enlightenment programs on interfaith and mutual co-existence being put in place by the Muslim scholars and the leadership.
    “In the light of the above, we commend the various untiring efforts of the Kano and Niger State Governments and also the respective states’ Ulama’ in nipping in the bud, the unfortunate crises that would have engulfed both states. Likewise, the proactive measures of all the security agencies are also commendable and we implore that same be sustained,” JNI stated.

  • JNI warns Muslim preachers against inciting utterances

    The Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) has warned Muslim preachers against provocative statements during the Ramadan lectures.

    Presenting a report of the 2014 Ramadan fasting in Kaduna yesterday, the JNI Secretary General, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, regretted what he described as rise in cases of “uncharitable, excessive and indecorous utterances,” on the part of some preachers during Ramadan lectures.

    His report was part of activities to mark the 2015 JNI annual pre-Ramadan lecture and conference, chaired by the Sultan of Sokoto who is also the JNI President-General, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar.

    According to Aliyu, during the 2014 Tafsir sessions, “some preachers delved into unnecessary juristic arguments which are categorically clear and in which there is consensus.

    “There were also some scholars whaose sessions were insightful and the truth is that if such utterances were to come from non-Muslims, the story would have been different now.

    “The most dangerous session of Tafsir which has surfaced recently in the public domain is the Shiite Tafsir which is being aired by some radio and television stations.

    “Its negative impact on the established creed of Islamic faith is gradually crawling into the Muslim community.”

    The theme of the 2015 conference was tagged, “Leadership and Followership: Duties and responsibilities from the Islamic perspective.”

    In his lecture, one of the guest speakers, Sheikh Salihu Abubakar, of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, noted that: “once a person is appointed a leader, through ASB agreed process that is conducted in a just and fair manner, we are expected to believe that it is the Almighty Allah that has made the person the leader and it should be accepted as such without revolting against him.”