Zaria Based Cleric Attacked and Killed

Nigerian mainstream news portals and their corny news head lines. Was this man a hate, kill the Christians/infidel preacher? No. He reads in between lines and speaks based on information available to him. Why attach the term "radical" to his name. "Radical" is an euphemism for "Terrorist", It's a subtle way of calling someone a mass murderer. Read his interview where he shared his opinion on boko-haram. His thoughts are typical, like lots of Muslims, too much conspiracy theories mixed with facts. Mass murderer/radical? I don't think so.

The Cleric, Muhamman Auwal Albani Zaria and one of his wives were killed on their way back home after attending a lecture. His wife died on the spot of the shooting while the cleric was rushed to St. Luke Hospital, Wusasa, Zaria where he was pronounced dead.

Excerpts from an interview done back in 2011, where he shared his thoughts on boko-haram based on his interaction with their leader.

Speaking about the rampant explosions back then, he said;

I am not convinced that what is happening now is being perpetrated by Boko Haram. There are many possibilities. For example, investigation has revealed that over 90 percent of bomb blasts in Churches and Mosques in Pakistan are sponsored by agents of other countries. Is it not impossible for such type of thing to happen here in Nigeria because some of such countries are predicting the collapse of Nigeria by 2015? Do you think those countries would not do everything possible to justify their prediction? If we are living peacefully, are we going to disintegrate? But if bombs continue to detonate in mosques and churches, are we not heading for disintegration? Therefore, in real sense, you can’t rule out the Western conspiracy and their representatives in Nigeria on all that is happening in Nigeria today.

 On boko-haram and conversasion with their former leader he said

Yes, of course. When he disclosed that he has left Shi’a and returned to Sunna, I was one of those who constantly talked to him about the ideology of Boko Haram. On some occasions, I sat with him with his students and in other occasions, only two of us sat. The essence was to convince him that Islam doesn’t accept the ideology of Boko Haram. I tried to convince him that since he claimed to be the follower of Sunna, therefore Sunna has its teachings and principles, and the idea of Boko Haram is contrary to those teachings. All our efforts, because I know other scholars like late Sheikh Ja’afar also engaged him on such issues, fell on deaf ears. He proffered some defenses, which are not authentic in the jurisprudence of Islam.

So, there is nothing radical/terrorist about this guy. The gun men might be off-shots of boko-haram who wants him on their side or the dooms day preachers across the Atlantic. We shouldn't speculate and i'm sure his killers will never be found except someone claims responsibility. I'd say RIP.