Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo has called on Nigerians to desist from the ignoble practice of profiling bandits as Muslims.
Ibrahim Alli, the Chief Press Secretary to the monarch stated in an official statement released on Saturday that bandits lacked the basic attributes that qualify an individual as a Muslim, stressing that wearing a turban or bearing an Arabic name does not make anyone a follower of Islam.
“I condemn in totality the religious profiling of bandits as Muslims. Real Muslims are not bandits. You cannot see a mosque in the den of bandits. The herdsmen don’t equally have mosques in their abode (Gaa). They have no identification of Muslims in all ramifications.”
“Bandits have no religion. Have you ever seen where bandits observe solat (Islamic mandatory prayers)? They might be wearing turbans, but not only Muslims wear turbans. People in the desert who are not Muslims also wear turbans.
“Many churches in Arab countries use the Arabic language to preach. We have people in all Islamic-populated countries who are not Muslims but speak Arabic.”
The monarch however posited that the menace of banditry stems from a long history of bad governance and not necessarily a religious problem.
