Piqued at the recent discovery of an improvised explosive at the Living Faith Church (aka Winners Chapel) Owerri which was later detonated by security agents, the Hausa community in Imo State has commenced a thorough screening and identification of all residents in the state who claim to be of northern extraction.
The leader of the community who is the Sarikin Hausawa, Alhaji Baba Saidu Suleiman, who disclosed this to newsmen in Owerri said that the measure had become inevitable to ascertain the true identity of residents of the city who dubiously parade themselves as Hausa and also associate themselves with all forms of insurgency.
Suleiman expressed regret that Hausa in the city have come to be associated with all manner of unpatriotic activities acts of terrorism being perpetrated by the Boko Haram sect.
Dismissing the deadly Islamic fundamentalist sect as an evil quite unacceptable to any genuine Muslim, the Hausa leader advised the people of the state to report any suspected member of the sect to security agencies for prompt action.
“Boko Haram is evil and unholy which is alien and unacceptable to genuine Muslim,” he stated.
He recalled the history of the settlement of the Hausa community in Owerri and noted that the Hausa have traditionally enjoyed a cordial warm relationship with their host community of Owerri and pledged that the former would continue to do its best to sustain the harmonious relationship for the overall growth and development of the state.
Suleiman commended Governor Rochas Okorocha, Deputy Governor Prince Eze Madumere and the Chief of Staff, Sir Judge Ejiogu, for what they have been doing to ensure peace, unity and stability in the state and assured that the Hausa community would stop at nothing to reciprocate the gesture.
He however pleaded with Okorocha to consider some of their qualified members for employment in the state.
