Muslim Rights Concern's Prof Akintola claims Kano deaths are an attempt to rid Nigeria of Muslims

ISLAMIC body Muslim Rights Concern (Muric) has cast a shadow over the recent deaths in Kano State saying that the unusually high toll of about 15 people within a week may be part of a deliberate attempt to depopulate Nigeria of Muslims.

Over the last week, Kano State has become the epicentre of a health crisis in Nigeria as apart from having 77 cases of coronavirus, about 150 people have died there mysteriously. Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has, however, attributed the deaths to other ailments such as diabetes, acute malaria, hypertension and meningitis, saying they are not coronavirus-related.

Making matters worse in the state, Kano is not equipped to deal with the pandemic as it lacks functioning testing laboratories and the three isolation centres in the state failed to supply their staff with personal protective equipment (PPE). As a result, staff at the isolation centres were contracting coronavirus, which led to 70% of doctors in the state absconding from their duty posts.

Things have since gone from bad to worse as yesterday, three people diagnosed as coronavirus-positive fled from isolation, risking spreading the virus further. Expressing concern about the development, Muric director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, said Kano needed help urgently, warning that the development posed a threat to the majority status Nigerian Muslims enjoy in the area.

Professor Akintola added: “More disturbing is the rumour that the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in the state has locked up its offices and its officials are not responding to distress calls. The only testing centre in Kano which is situated at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital has also been allegedly locked up, so where did NCDC get its figures on Kano?

Something is fishy here and we are surprised that testing centres are almost non-existent in the north. Is this a deliberate attempt at debilitating the northern population with its attendant impact on the Muslim majority population in the country?

“We, therefore, demand an inquiry into circumstances surrounding the alleged closure of NCDC office in Kano State as well as the paucity of testing centres in the whole north. Nigerian Muslims are currently enjoying a majority status in the area of demography and we must avoid anything capable of decimating our population."

Earlier today, the presidential task force on Covid-19 got the NCDC to re-open the test laboratory centre at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH). NCDC director-general Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, revealed that national response team made up of 16 people has been deployed to Kano State.

Many Nigerians, including Muslims, have repeatedly denounced Professor Akintola’s rhetoric, warning him to rise above bigotry and instead promote harmonious co-existence by adherents of all religions as espoused by the Holy Quran. national response team made up of 16 people has been deployed to Kano State. In January, this year, he notoriously claimed that the regional security network Amotekun was anti-Muslim because there its symbol the leopard was contained in a bible passage, making it a Christian body.