Police, SSS Warn Clerics Against Increment, To Regulate Preaching

The Borno State police command, the State Security Service (SSS), among other stakeholders, have warned clerics against preaching capable of disturbing public peace.

The warning comes in the wake of the sack of Sheikh Nuru Khalid as the chief imam of Apo Legislative Quarters central mosque for criticising President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking during a stakeholders’ meeting to regulate preaching on Tuesday in Maiduguri, police commissioner in Borno, Abdu Umar, urged Islamic clerics to use the period of Ramadan fast to preach unity and peaceful coexistence in the state.

The police chief, at the meeting convened by the Nigeria Police and State Security Service (SSS), said the move became necessary to remind preachers of the existing law passed in 2010 by the state government to regulate preaching.

He added that the law established the Borno State Islamic Religious Preaching Board, which made it mandatory for preachers to obtain licences from the board before embarking on their activities.

The police commissioner stressed the need for Islamic clerics to use the Ramadan period to preach peace and unity instead of attacking one another based on sectarian differences.

He also urged the media not to allow themselves to be hoodwinked by preachers inciting people and creating problems in Borno.

In his own remarks, SSS director M.M. Murtala explained that Islam urged Muslims to promote peaceful coexistence.

Mr Murtala also mentioned that the hardship experienced in Borno due to insurgency was enough to teach the people the value of peace.

The SSS director reminded the media that only clerics cleared by the preaching board were allowed to preach in their medium.

Also speaking, Mohammed Shettima, the secretary of the Borno Islamic Religious Preaching Board, reiterated the readiness of the board to ensure that only certified clerics preach in the state.

In their separate remarks, heads of media organisations promised to work with all stakeholders to jettison inciting preachings in their programmes.

The preaching law empowered the governor and the board to ban preachers and preaching in public places capable of causing public disorder or breach of peace in Borno.