Leader of the Islamic Brotherhood Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, has attributed recent religious violence in parts of the country to "the crippling socio-economic problems confronting citizens at virtually all levels."

Zakzaky said this at the weekend, when a delegation of the Northern Civil Society Forum led by Mallam Shehu Sani met him in Zaria, as part of the group's discourse with individuals and religious leaders on how to find a lasting solution to recurrent religious upheavals.

Zakzaky expressed regret at inept leadership and corruption at the highest level of governance, which deprive the teeming masses of basic fracilities.

According to him, "the large army of unemployed youths roaming the streets has become a monster and ready tools for unleashing violence on the society at the slightest opportunity.

"The recent killings had nothing to do with religion, the perpetrators are social miscreants created by the parlous economy of the country. We should blame the inept and corrupt political leadership for the worsening socio-economic situation.

"Their action and inaction, has led to widespread frustration amongst the youth who readily took to crime to eke out a living. The anti-corruption crusade of the Federal Government lacks sincerity.

"Managers are mismanaging our resources. If a company has a large input and brings out little output, who will you blame? With what is happening, you know that the managers are mismanaging the resources. The reality is here. Here is a rich nation with very poor people. I cannot imagine corrupt people fighting corruption. If one may ask, where are the resources going, including those they claimed to have recovered from the earlier mis-managers, if you don't like to call them thieves.

"Where are the resources? At least, the common man is saying he has not seen it on the ground. What do they do with the money? On the ground we have not seen anything. Hopefully, we pray that God Almighty will wipe out all the mis-managers completely and bring justice to rule."

Sani had earlier said his group was worried about the recurrent incidents of sectarian violence, especially in the northern part of the country.

"The issue of sectarian violence is a major point of discourse. It has reshaped democracy, tampered with the sociology of so many areas and created a wide gap between people that hitherto were living together in peace," Sani said.

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