The National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, has urged all Ghanaians to avoid the politicisation of the Bawku conflict and to participate in the national efforts at finding an amicable solution to it.
To the media, he asked that they remain ethical, peace-loving, reconciliatory, and unifying in their reportage on and analysis of the conflict. Jaundiced analyses that have the potential to inflame passions should be avoided, he emphasised in a statement signed by his Personal Assistant, Dr. Mohammed Marzuq Abubakari Azindoo.
The revered Mufti has instructed all Imams in the country to dedicate portions of their Friday Sermons to and offer special prayers for peace in Bawku in the next few weeks.
His reaction comes in the wake of the recent escalation of tension and heightened violence in Bawku.
He called for de-escalation, reconciliation, and unification in the Bawku Traditional Area irrespective of the ethnic, religious, and political affiliations of the people.
He expressed concern about the recent resurgence of violence, expressing concern especially about the arson attack on a police station and the killing of peacekeeping personnel in Bawku.
He condemned what in his own words was a show of disgusting impunity, including “the brazen shooting at the vehicle of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) by some irate youth in Bawku”. The action, he went on, “is an assault on the authority of the state, a misbehaviour that is NOT entertained in civilised democratic societies”.
The Islamic spiritual leader has, in the light of the development, appealed to the factions in the conflict to silence the guns and allow the restoration of normalcy to the area.
He commended the government for referring the dispute to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II for mediation.
The Grand Imam, however, expressed his readiness to engage in behind-the-scenes diplomacy, if the need arises, to enhance the quality of the mediation process.
In the wisdom of His Eminence, decent democratic politics is a virtue. “But when a matter of national security implications is subjected to needless partisan politicisation, it can easily become a tribute to violence entrepreneurs,” he cautioned.
- Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu
