Guber Elections: Group Calls for Arrest of Jos Cleric over Alleged Incitement

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

Movement for the Survival of Plateau People (MOSOP), a pressure group in Jos, has called for the arrest and prosecution of an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yahaya Jingir, over alleged inciting statements credited to him ahead of next Saturday’s governorship polls in Plateau state.

In a joint statement issued in Jos, president of MOSOP, Solomon Bako and General Secretary of the group, Ibrahim Audu,  described Jingir’s utterances as a provocative, and a threat to peace of the state.

The cleric, while recently canvassing for support for one of the gubernatorial candidates, Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda, had called on Muslims in the state to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate because a vote for him is a vote for protection and expansion of Islam on the Plateau.

In another video that has gone viral on the social media, the Islamic leader was captured describing the Berom ethnic nationality and other Plateau tribes as killers, calling on Muslims in Jos North not to vote for the PDP candidate, Barrister Caleb Mutfwang whom he alleged is a Berom candidate that will kill the Muslims in the state.       

Describing such utterances as promoting religious intolerance and a threat to the peace in the state, MOSOP called on security operatives to immediately arrest and prosecute the cleric in order to nip in the bud the imminent security threat that his utterances is capable of causing.

While maintaining that the people of Plateau state cannot afford to continue to groan under the bad governance brought upon them by the APC administration in the last eight years, the group also urged the state government not to fold its hand and watch some people use religion to cause disharmony among the people of the state in under the guise of politics.