An Islamic cleric has spoken out about lifestyle of many Pastors and Imams which have been described as corrupt.
File photo: A church
It has been a popular belief that politicians are the most corrupt set of people in Nigeria.
However, contrary to that belief, a member of the Jama’atul Izalatulk Bid’a wa Iqamatus-Sunnah (JIBWIS), Dr Bashir Isyaku has said that religious leaders are more corrupt than political players.
Bahir made this known at a workshop organized for religious leaders by the Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Research and Training, on Tuesday.
He said the flamboyant lifestyle of religious leaders was evidence of their corrupt practices.
“Ask any Imam or Pastor how much he earns per annum to justify his lifestyle. They won’t mention any job or vocation, yet they are the ones living such expensive life; some are undertaking expensive trips with their families abroad. They are just living on the religion,” he said.
He added that religious leaders, who were supposed to direct people on how to worship God had deviated and were promoting and celebrating corruption.
He, therefore, stated that instead of discussing the role of religious leaders in fighting corruption which was the theme of the workshop, the leaders should first be sanitized to be free of corruption before they could be used to fight it.
Speaking earlier, the Director of the Centre Professor Haruna Wakili said one of the mandates of the centre was to ensure that governance was done correctly without promoting or condoning corrupt practices.