Cleric Abubakar’s show of love

An octogenarian Muslim cleric, Alhaji Abdullahi Abubakar, recently caught national and international attention for saving the lives of about 300 Christians during the June 24, 2018 communal hostilities that swept through the Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau state.
Over 200 lives were wasted by the attackers during the show of madness.
The cleric, who hails from Nghar Yelwa Village in Barkin Ladi LGA, was said to have made his mosque and residence available for the fleeing locals from different communities to hide themselves.
He hid the men in his mosque, while the women and children were kept in his house.
When the attackers, suspected to be herdsmen, got wind of the cleric’s action, they accosted him to identify the Christians among the “refugees” in his custody, but he lied to them that they were all Muslims who were also fleeing from danger and pleaded with them to leave.
In recognition of the cleric’s rare and courageous gesture, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the state Governor, Barr.
Simon Lalong, to bring the imam for a “handshake and national honour.” Governor Lalong made the disclosure in Jos during the opening ceremony of a three-day peace and security conference with the theme: “The resurgence of violence in Plateau State: Towards a multi-stakeholder partnership for peace and security”.
The governor had told the gathering, “The President has told me to bring Imam for a handshake which will be followed by a national honour.
I was also preparing what to do for this man. Although he is already in his old age, God knows why he did it at that age for us to study and also know how to maintain peace, not only in Plateau state but also in Nigeria in general.
“What he did was not only saving the people of Barkin Ladi LGA and Plateau state but I also think the whole of this country because 300 lives is not a small number.
So, Alhaji Abdullahi Abubakar, only God will reward you for what you have done.
“We are waiting for that process of meeting the President for a handshake and national honour.
Having a handshake with Mr. President at the age of 83, I think the man will be happy, even if he is going to his grave that something has happened in his life.” Abubakar’s gesture is worthy of emulation not only by his fellow imams but also clerics of the Christian religion.
In recent years, some high profile men of God have been known to call on their followers to apply the Law of Moses that preaches an eye for an eye whenever conflicts arise among followers of the two major religions.
Christianity and Islam preach peaceful co-existence among their adherents.
The saviour of the 300 Christians, who would have been massacred by the criminal elements, has demonstrated that the lives of Christians and Moslems are precious before the Creator.
Nigeria and Nigerians need more of such clerics, especially in this volatile period when religions are exploited by politicians who are quick to exploit the fault lines to achieve their selfish ambitions.
Nigerians have at one time or the other demonstrated that they can be their brothers’ keepers.
This was exhibited during the nationwide rallies organised by the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) to protest the sudden fuel increase in January, 2014.
Nigerians put aside their ethnoreligious differences and united for a common cause.
In Lagos and Kaduna, Christians formed a human ring around Muslims during their prayers and vice versa.
Unfortunately, that spirit of oneness could not be sustained.
It could not have been, considering the opium of intolerance and hatred they are fed with in churches and mosques.
It is also curious that no Christian cleric of note has openly commended the show of love exhibited the Imam Abubakar for putting his life on the line.
Nigerians should see themselves first and foremost as citizens of this country with the realisation that religions were made for them and not the other way round.
This rare solidarity was demonstrated early this year in Kenya when a gang of Al-Shabaab militants ambushed a bus conveying Muslims and Christians to Mandera, a city near the border with Somalia and Ethiopia.
The police van escorting the bus had broken down earlier in the journey.
But things did not go as expected for the militants because the Muslim passengers, mostly women, refused to separate from their Christian co-travellers.
They shielded them and told the Islamic militants to kill them all or leave them alone, insisting that they could not be separated by religion.
The gunmen had to abort their deadly mission in frustration.
The Kenyan government commended the Muslim passengers for their show of courage and love.
Blueprint welcomes the presidential handshake and a national honour planned for the cleric.
However, we suggest that in appreciation of the gesture, he should be further rewarded by naming a monument in the state after him to eternalise his show of humanity.