The Christian Social Movement of Nigeria (CSMN), the socio-political arm of the Nigeria Church, hereby responds to the provocative and insensitive press statement of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) under the leadership of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar. That press statement, signed by Mr. Abbas Jimoh, the Public Affairs Officer of the Islamic body, “warned” the Federal Government of Nigeria to act quickly before Muslims “run out of patience” over what it alleged as “persistent attacks, profiling and marginalisation of the faith and its adherents.”
The Christian Social Movement of Nigeria is shocked at the impudence of the NSCIA in alleging injury and offense at a supposed wrongful profiling of the Muslim faith. One had expected the NSCIA to have been more civil, apologising to Nigerians, particularly the Christian community, for the destruction that Islamic insurgents have caused in the country since that Council’s current President ascended his throne. The bloodletting in the country started in 2009, just three years after his ascension as Sultan in 2006. Until then, Islam in the Federal Republic of Nigeria never committed atrocities to the level Nigerians are witnessing today. The CSMN wonders on what moral ground the NSCIA stands to “warn” anyone, especially the Federal Government of Nigeria. The attempt to gaslight the government and the Christian community is in very bad taste.
The Christian Social Movement of Nigeria wishes to inform the NSCIA and all concerned citizens of Nigeria that His Eminence, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, is a highly respected and revered leader of the Christian faith. As a Christian leader, he speaks for the Church, and Nigerian Christians stand with him and behind him. The NSCIA is hereby placed under caution to be careful with its comments about the Christian leader for expressing the pain and anguish that Islamic terrorists have been inflicting on the Church and the country.
The statement of His Eminence, Pastor Oritsejafor, during his interview with Channels TV was deliberately twisted by the NSCIA in its press statement published in Vanguard Newspaper of 29th June 2026, where it alleged that the Christian leader had said that “90 to 95 per cent of criminals were Muslims.” That is deliberate distortion. Someone of the status of a Public Affairs Officer of such a big organisation should have been a better listener and researcher. What the respected Christian leader said was this, and daily events as well as recurrent sad tales in the public court of the social media vindicate him: “When you look at insecurity in Nigeria today, I would tell you that 99.9% of those who are practising and making this thing thrive are Moslems, not Christians.” The NSCIA spokesman deliberately twisted that statement to incite the gullible, probably to have further excuse for fomenting the same insecurity of which his kinsmen in faith have been indicted. He deliberately avoided to quote the word “insecurity,” preferring “criminals” instead, for whatever ‘better’ reason, to describe Muslims. It is deliberate mischief, for whatever next agenda.
Pastor Oritsejafor did not call Muslims “criminals.” Mr. Abbas Jimoh, the Public Affairs Officer of the Islamic body did. What the noble clergyman said was that the greater percentage of those behind the ongoing insecurity in Nigeria are adherents of the faith. That is the fact. All the terrorists and terrorist groups are Muslims: Boko Haram, Fulani ‘Herdsmen,’ Lakurawa, ‘bandits,’ ISWAP, ISIS, Al Qaeda, and all the other Islamic insurgents engaged in the murder, abduction, kidnapping, and rape of innocent Nigerians. They are not Sango worshippers or Catholics or Baptists. They are all Muslims, who report to the Sultan, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, as the President of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs and as “Sarkin Muslumi” – the “king of Muslims” in Nigeria. Of more concern is the fact that the Sultan of Sokoto is also the traditional ruler of the Fulanis, which means that the notorious Fulani Herdsmen are his subjects.
It is curious that the Sultan has not deemed it fit to call his subjects and followers to order for the carnage and destruction that they have brought upon Nigeria. While the Sultan may deny complicity in the ongoing bloodshed in Nigeria, he cannot absolve himself of criminal negligence. As the head of the Islamic Ummah in Nigeria, it is negligence on his part that his followers are terrorising the country, and he has not called them to order.
In the same press statement, the NSCIA averred that the suspect linked with the kidnapping of school children and their teachers at Oriire Local Government in Oyo state was “not only a Christian but a pastor.” It is well known that taqiyyah is a doctrine in Islam, which excuses falsehood for a Muslim in the promotion and defence of his religion. In fact, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (Abu Abdullah) in Al-Kafi said, "Nine-tenths (or 90%) of religion is taqiyyah (dissimulation), and he who has no taqiyyah has no religion." It is taqiyyah for anyone to infer that a Christian was behind the kidnapping in Oyo State. Will a Christian demand the implementation of Sharia in Oyo State as the ‘ransom’ for freeing his captives, or demand that arrested Muslim terrorists be released? Was it a pastor who beheaded one of the kidnapped teachers before his own little school children? Do these killers recite the Lord’s Prayer or sing a church hymn while performing these terrible acts? There should be a limit to this taqiyyah.
The Christian community is appealing to President Tinubu to call his religious compatriots to order. Extremists amongst Muslims have used their unbridled religious fervour to destabilize and disorganize Nigeria. The Christian community has been patient under intensive provocation, and the mischievous distortion of narratives should not continue to be tolerated. Muslims are responsible for the terrorism in Nigeria. The government should task the Sultan of Sokoto to call his followers to order.
God bless Nigeria.
Bosun Emmanuel
CEO/Executive Secretary
Christian Social Movement of Nigeria (CSMN)
2nd July 2026
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2026/06/act-before-muslims-run-out-of-patience-nscia-tells-fg/
The press release of NSCIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNmhUOSSpRM
The interview of his eminence, Pastor Oritsejafor