Ibrahim Ahmad, the President of Nigeria’s Supreme Council for Sharia, died on Thursday in Kano State.
Ahmad died after a long illness after refusing to join a committee set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan to dialogue with Boko Haram militants.
According to Islamic customs, the late Ahmad, a presidential candidate for the Social Democratic Party, was buried in Kano.
“I am saddened by the passing to the eternal glory of the President-General of the Supreme Council of Shari’ah in Nigeria, Sheikh (Dr) Ibrahim Datti Ahmed,” stated Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in the 2019 election.
“Sheikh Datti’s passing has left a huge vacuum. He will be remembered for his leadership and enormous wisdom with which he deployed in steering the affairs of the Council for Shariah. As a man of peace and a firm believer of the philosophy of “Live and Let’s Live”, Sheikh Ahmed Datti did his best possible to stay uncontroversial all through his years.
“More importantly, he never allowed himself to be dragged into matters capable of disrupting the fragile peace we enjoy as a multi-religious and multi-ethnic society.”
Ahmad was also regarded as a huge scholastic figure by the Muslim Rights Concern, an Islamic human rights organization.
Professor Ishaq Akintola, MURIC’s director and founder, published a statement on Thursday expressing his reaction.
MURIC said, “Dr Ahmad Datti was an energetic Islamic activist of no small measure. A trained medical doctor, he was the president of the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria. The deceased played a prominent role in the spread of Shariah in the Northern states of the country from 1999 onwards.
“A pragmatic Muslim leader, Datti encouraged Muslims to join politics in order to bring the teachings of Islam on probity, accountability and good governance to bear on politics and Muslim politicians. He practised what he taught by becoming an aspirant of the Social Democratic Party in the early 90s.”
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