By Abdulwahab Abdulah

The Nigerian  Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has cautioned political parties and supporters not to drag Islam into the ongoing  campaigns.

The Council chided the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, for its alleged failure to scrutinize what goes on the airwaves.

In a statement by the Secretary-General of the Council, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, he alleged that a sponsored advertisement in the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), “ contained a concocted documentary which embarrassingly maligns Islam and portrays Nigerian Muslims in bad light.” He noted that such advertisement, especially on a national television owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria, “is sending a very dangerous signal of a seemingly impending religious war to the populace.”

Oloyede argued that airing of such advert, with the current public utterances of some political and religious leaders in the country, suggested a “dangerous hidden agenda”.

He, therefore, warned: “To avert any such crisis, therefore, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs hereby calls on Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, which statutorily regulates the broadcast activities in the country, to be alert in its duty and ensure that a religious war does not ensue as a result of dereliction of duty on its part.”