MUSLIM RIGHTS
CONCERN (MURIC)
هيئة حقوق المسلمين
Motto: Dialogue,
Not Violence
Date: 6th December, 2025
PRESS RELEASE:
CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE: WHEN WILL THE PRESS HEAR FROM THE MUSLIMS? –
MURIC
As the conversation rages around the burning question of Christian
genocide, an Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern
(MURIC), has complained that the debate in both the print and electronic media
on the subject matter has excluded Islamic scholars in particular and Nigerian
Muslims in general.
In a statement issued on Saturday, 6th December, 2025, the
group condemned the path of exclusivity toed by the media and demanded to know when
Muslims will be given a place at the table. It insisted that the Nigerian
press, except for very few, has drifted away from balance, fairness and
professionalism. The statement was signed by the group’s Executive Director,
Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The full statement reads:
“We are constrained to call attention to the way and manner the
ongoing debate on the imaginary Christian genocide is being handled by the Nigerian
media. We note with grave concern how both the print and electronic media has excluded
Islamic scholars in particular and Nigerian Muslims in general.
“Christian
clergies and their followers are given unlimited opportunities to appear on
television and to speak on radio or on the pages of newspapers. They use the opportunity
to launch verbal halitosis, discharge clangorous diatribes, pour invectives and
fire vitriolic attacks without being restrained by their anchors. What is most
shocking there is that the Muslims who are being accused are not invited to
respond after the Islamophobic fireworks.
“A good example was the interview granted by News Central to
Reverend Ezekiel Dachomo on or around 10th November, 2025 where he
ranted endlessly about his phantom genocide based on Muslim-Muslim ticket. To
the best of our knowledge, the same television station has not deemed it fit to
invite any Muslim scholar from the same area as the Christian cleric to respond
to the allegations. Is this fair?
“Meanwhile Muslims from Dachomo’s area under the aegis of Mangu
Concerned Muslim Consultative Forum (MCMCF) have debunked Dachomo’s claims. They
said Christians of the North Central have engaged in systematic genocide
against them for the past 25 years (https://dailypost.ng/2025/12/05/plateau-mangu-muslim-community-slams-rev-dachomo-over-alleged-inflammatory-comments/; https://dailytrust.com/muslim-community-denies-dachomos-claim-of-converting-burnt-church-to-mosque/).
“Media houses chatting with members of the public often forget
their corporate responsibility. Television and radio stations, including
newspapers must find a way of dousing cyber tension. Litigations may not leave
out media houses found to have been negligent or corroborative in public
incitement.
“Most importantly, we find the level of professionalism going down
steadily in the media in recent time. Or how do we describe the absence of
ethics in the media’s handling of interviews with propagators of the misleading
Christian genocide narrative? The public only hear one side of the story
because it is those who allege alone that are invited.
“What of the Muslim side? Are there no Muslims in this country? Are
there no Islamic scholars who can be invited to air their own view? Why does
the media always invite Christians from the North Central without giving
Muslims from the same zone the right of reply? What happened to the principle
of audi alteram partem (hear from the other side)?
“Muslims
have complained of mass killings in their hundreds by terrorists almost on a
daily basis in the North West and North East of Nigeria. What efforts has the
media made to hear from Muslims from those zones? At least the whole world
knows that those being killed by the terrorists in Sokoto, Borno, Katsina,
Zamfara, Kano, Kebbi, Yobe, etc are Muslims.
“Most national television stations have correspondents in those Muslim
majority states. Why are Nigerians being denied the opportunity to hear from
them? We are disturbed that people like Reverend Ezekiel Dachomo are invited by
television and radio stations to spit fire against Muslims without the stations
inviting a Muslim cleric to respond. Who does that?
“We have seen how representatives of other political parties are
invited to defend or state their parties’ positions when allegations are made
against them. But the Nigerian press relish in shaving the heads of Muslims in
their absence.
“That
does not reflect balance or professionalism. It is indoctrination. Nigerians
are gradually being programmed to hate Muslims. The Nigerian press is poisoning
the minds of the general public (including those of gullible Muslims too)
against Islam and its followers. This is very dangerous because we all know that
incitement can lead to riots.
“We are therefore calling on the relevant agencies who are expected
to monitor, guide, caution and take punitive measures to call these media
houses to order before it is too late. At least Nigeria's media landscape is
regulated by key bodies like the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for
radio, television and digital content, the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) for
print media ethics, and the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria
(ARCON).
“We
frown at this parochial path of exclusivity toed by the Nigerian media. We demand
to know when Muslims will be given a place at the table. We assert that the Nigerian
press, except for very few, has drifted away from balance, fairness and
professionalism.
“The ongoing debate on Christian genocide has lost its luster due
to the way Muslims who constitute a significant proportion of the population
has been locked out at a time they stand as the group being accused of a
farcical genocide.
“It
is only proper that Muslims are involved in the conversation, otherwise it is
not a national debate. The Nigerian press, except for very few, has drifted
away from balance, fairness and professionalism. The Muslims are being framed. Worse
still, they are gagged by the press. They are voiceless, oppressed and
repressed.
“The fact that the other side ‘owns’ the press or ‘has influence’
in the media does not matter at all. That does not give the media the licence
to deny the Muslims fair hearing. That is the essence of audi alteram partem.
The question on our lips is: when will the media hear from the Muslims?”
#NigerianPress
#NUJ
#NBC
#NPC
#StopGaggingTheMuslims
#WeCantBreathe
#MuslimsAreVoiceless
#MuslimsRemainOppressed
#MuslimsAreVictimsOfTerrorism
Professor Ishaq
Akintola,
Founder/Executive
Director,
Muslim Rights
Concern (MURIC).
