BAGA MASSACRE: IT IS RELIGIOUS CLEANSING!

24^th April, 2013

PRESS RELEASE:

BAGA MASSACRE: IT IS RELIGIOUS CLEANSING!

 

Over 185 Muslim civilians were butchered on Monday, 22^nd April, 2013 at Baga, Borno State while more than 2000 houses were either burnt or leveled to the ground in an alleged clash between the military and Boko Haram militants.      

 

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is petrified by this horrendous and barbaric killing of unarmed civilians. We reject the military's excuse that Boko Haram fighters used civilians as human shields. This excuse further exposes the unprofessionalism and high-handedness of Nigeria's soldiers. It is sheer cock and bull story. Residents who survived the invasion claim that it was unprovoked. We affirm that those involved in this massacre have ignored the rules of engagement.

 

MURIC strongly suspects that those behind the animalistic and brutal behavior were trigger-happy and determined to kill as many Muslims as possible before the amnesty being planned by the Federal Government (FG) comes into effect. The fact that most of the victims were women and children lends credence to this suspicion. It is also a calculated attempt to provoke Boko Haram into another orgy of violence thereby forestalling the proposed amnesty programme.

 

We accuse the Nigerian military of excessive use of force against a civilian and Muslim population. It is simply religious cleansing with a tinge of ethnic genocide.

 

The fact that a massacre of this magnitude is perpetrated in the same zone despite the fact that extra-judicial killings ignited the Boko Haram imbroglio ab initio proves that the Nigerian military has not learnt its lesson. By out-Heroding Herod at Baga, Nigerian soldiers are simply winning more sympathizers and volunteers for the Boko Haram insurgents.  

 

We stand by our hypothesis that terrorism is mere smoke rising from flames stoked by injustice, oppression and persecution. A good fire-fighter will direct his hose towards the flame and not at the smoke. Justice is the soul of peace. Nobody can deny one and enjoy the other. Those who order the massacre of Muslim populations are encouraging terrorism.

 

MURIC therefore calls for an urgent commission of inquiry into the Baga saga. The probe allegedly ordered into the case by the FG will only scratch the surface. Only a commission of inquiry can dig deep enough.

 

Beyond the local scene, we call on the international community to pay attention to this crime against humanity. The world today has become a global village and the repercussions of a humanitarian disaster in Nigeria will definitely ricochet across the world. Those who kill women and children in cold blood must face the full wrath of the law. We urge the United Nations to urgently conduct an international inquiry into this massacre. International warrants of arrest must be issued against those involved in this inhumanity of man to man. They must be arraigned at the International Court of Justice.

 

We urge the international civil society to listen to the cries of the oppressed people of Baga. Specifically, we invite Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to conduct independent interviews with survivors of this ordeal and act accordingly.

 

Finally, MURIC jogs the conscience of the Nigerian civil society, the Campaign for Democracy (CD), the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), Women Arise, etc. We assert the right of Muslims to enjoy fundamental human rights. We warn that continuous conspiratorial silence in the face of frequent violation of the Allah-given and fundamental rights of Muslim populations places a moral burden on the conscience of civil society and mortally challenges its credibility.

 

Professor Is-haq Akintola,

Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC),
234-818-211-9714

234-803-346-4974

 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC),

234-803-346-4974

234-818-211-9714

E-mail: muslimrightsconcern@yahoo.co.uk

            muslimrights@gmail.com

Website: www.muric.net

Yahoo Group: groups.yahoo.com/group/muslimrights

Blog:       muslimrightsmuric.blogspot.com

Twitter:   twitter.com/muslimrights

               

MURIC's bank account :

Banker's Name: Guaranty Trust Bank

Account Name:        Muslim Rights Concern
Account Number:    0112827277

Be just Justice is the soul of peace

No one can deny one and have the other

Neither can violence or naked force bring lasting peace

MEND'S THREAT TO ATTACK MUSLIMS

16^th April, 2013

PRESS RELEASE:

MEND'S THREAT TO ATTACK MUSLIMS: A SMOKESCREEN

 

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in a recent statement threatened to start attacking Muslim interests by killing Muslim leaders and bombing mosques. MEND gave the beginning of May for the implementation of its threat.

 

We of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) regard this threat as a mere smokescreen, badly timed and ill-conceived. We believe that MEND does not understand the issues involved in the Boko Haram saga. Muslims in Nigeria have long disowned Boko Haram. We washed our hands off the atrocities committed by the group and we have been consistent in our condemnation of the attacks carried out by the group.

 

We call attention to the monumental speech made by His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammad Saa'd Abubakar III, in which he referred to the Boko Haram group as an evil and he called on both Christian and Muslim groups in the country to come together to fight this evil. It is therefore ironical that MEND still associates Boko Haram with Islam and threatens to avenge the attacks carried out by the group on innocent Muslims. This will be a gross miscarriage of justice.  

 

We must remind MEND of early warnings that the main objective of Boko Haram is to ignite a North-South war. MEND may be falling into this trap with its latest threat. But just as Nigerian Muslims disowned Boko Haram, MURIC is interested in knowing the reaction of Nigerian Christians to the threat made by MEND. What has the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) got to say on this?

 

It is now an open secret that the Federal Government is poised to announce its granting of amnesty to Boko Haram. The fact that MEND's threat is coming just when light starts to appear at the end of the dark tunnel is quite interesting. It raises more questions than answers. The only logical conclusion is that MEND wants to scuttle the proposed amnesty for Boko Haram. Put in other words, MEND wants to monopolise amnesty programmes in the country. It should not be enjoyed by any other group. Otherwise we must ask the question: why now?

 

The Federal Government has been working round the clock to find a solution to the Boko Haram menace. Why not allow the FG to conclude its plans? The committee set up by the FG to understudy the issue of amnesty for Boko Haram was given two weeks to conclude its deliberations. Why must MEND's threat come halfway to the timeline? Does it not look like subtle blackmail? We affirm that the timing of MEND's threat is wrong, uncoordinated and illogical.

 

MURIC reminds MEND that we stood by the people of the Niger Delta during their travail and condemned the environmental degradation in the area from the beginning even before the formation of MEND. It is curious that a group fighting for the economic liberation of its people now wishes to metamorphose into a religious crusader. We remind MEND that this is capable of impugning on its credibility. We have never considered MEND as a terrorist group. We saw it as a freedom fighter group. Its threat to start attacking Islamic targets will definitely change its status.

 

We urge the Federal Government to see the true colour of MEND. Government's analysts must see beyond this threat. We also call on the CAN to separate the wheat from the chaff. Even if MEND attacks Muslims or mosques it will not be fighting for Christians. The threat to attack Muslims is a mere smokescreen. MEND has a hidden agenda. Like the Boko Haram which seeks to railroad the South into a confrontation with the North in order to force an Islamic republic on the North, MEND has an eye on a total break-up of the country in order to put the oil wealth in its region under its total control. This is why MEND is throwing spanner in the works. It is not genuinely interested in peace in Nigeria.    

 

In view of MEND's threat, we charge Muslims to be vigilant. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. Yet in spite of the threat, we urge Muslims all over the country to go about their legitimate businesses without fear. We advise them to remain calm, peace-loving and law-abiding. Muslims must realize that MEND does not represent Christians. This threat is therefore not coming from the Christians as a body. Muslims must therefore remain friendly with their Christian neighbours. With malice towards none and charity for all, Muslims must continue to love and forgive. The task of nation-building cannot succeed in an atmosphere of mutual fear and distrust.

 

Professor Is-haq Akintola,

Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC),
234-818-211-9714

234-803-346-4974

 

 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC),

234-803-346-4974

234-818-211-9714

E-mail: muslimrightsconcern@yahoo.co.uk

            muslimrights@gmail.com

Website: www.muric.net

Yahoo Group: groups.yahoo.com/group/muslimrights

Blog:       muslimrightsmuric.blogspot.com

Twitter:   twitter.com/muslimrights

               

MURIC's bank account :

Banker's Name: Guaranty Trust Bank

Account Name:        Muslim Rights Concern
Account Number:    0112827277

Be just Justice is the soul of peace

No one can deny one and have the other

Neither can violence or naked force bring lasting peace

AMNESTY: THE ONLY WAY FORWARD FOR NIGERIA

8^th April, 2013

PRESS RELEASE:

AMNESTY: ONLY WAY FORWARD FOR NIGERIA

 

President Jonathan recently set up a committee to look into the possibility or otherwise of granting amnesty to members of Boko Haram.    

 

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) hereby welcomes this decision. We are of the opinion that this is a step in the right direction. We believe that the Nigerian president is now thinking like the president of the whole country. Only by granting amnesty to the Boko Haram group can the president reposition the country for peaceful coexistence.

 

We support amnesty because it stands for peace. Amnesty gives life, hope and recovery. On the contrary, continued hostility and pursuit of insurgents are characterized by death and general insecurity. Terrorists have one mindset, namely, to put asunder what government has put together, to destroy what government has built. Terrorists seek to cause as much havoc as possible in order to attract attention to their cause. President Jonathan needs all hands on deck to build a united Nigeria and a virile economy. Progress of any kind cannot be attained in a state of insecurity.

 

MURIC however urges the president to rely more on his civilian advisers than on the military. Just as lawyers will always encourage their clients to go to court instead of amicable settlement of disputes, soldiers, particularly top military officers who are not usually directly in the firing line, will always prefer prolonging armed struggle. Propelled by the desire to extend the fracas and for other obvious reasons, the military may not have been giving us correct figures of casualties from clashes between the military and Boko Haram.

 

We remind the Federal Government of the need to take a firm grip of the Boko Haram phenomenon and to make good use of the president's latest initiative before the military digs in deeper. The interest of the military's Joint Task Force (JTF) in prolonging insecurity in the North may be a bait for an eventual military coup. We further remind the Federal Government of the degradations suffered by the country in all sectors in the forty years of military rule. The military should never again be allowed to intervene in the running of government in Nigeria. We therefore charge President Jonathan to assert the civilian character of his regime by rebuffing the overbearing influence of the military in the Boko Haram imbroglio.

 

Once again we debunk the thesis of a faceless Boko Haram. The group cannot be faceless if some of their commanders have been arrested or killed as JTF always claims. The Boko Haram commanders who are in detention have names. So how can they be faceless? In the same vein, we dismiss the hypothesis of Boko Haram as ghosts. The faces of the leader of Boko Haram and that of his followers are usually shown in video clips and on the pages of newspapers. Ghosts do not appear in pictures or video.

 

In our synthesis, we assert that the thesis of a faceless Boko Haram and the hypothesis of a ghost Boko Haram are both products of shallow thinking and an attempt to railroad Nigerians into supporting extra-judicial killings, the violation of Allah-given and fundamental rights of Northerners and the systematic destruction of the economy of the North.

 

Nonetheless, we demand justice for the victims of the attacks. Widows and orphans of victims of the horrendous attacks must be properly compensated by the Federal Government. This includes rebuilding structures that have been bombed.

 

Finally, we remind the anti-amnesty camp of the serious implications of a total rejection of amnesty. This includes the possibility of escalation of violent attacks which may culminate in a second civil war with its dire consequences. A word is enough for the wise.

 

Professor Is-haq Akintola,

Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC),
234-818-211-9714

234-803-346-4974

 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC),

234-803-346-4974

234-818-211-9714

E-mail: muslimrightsconcern@yahoo.co.uk

            muslimrights@gmail.com

Website: www.muric.net

Yahoo Group: groups.yahoo.com/group/muslimrights

Blog:       muslimrightsmuric.blogspot.com

Twitter:   twitter.com/muslimrights

               

MURIC's bank account :

Banker's Name: Guaranty Trust Bank

Account Name:        Muslim Rights Concern
Account Number:    0112827277

Be just Justice is the soul of peace

No one can deny one and have the other

Neither can violence or naked force bring lasting peace

NIGERIAN PRESIDENT PLAYING POLITICS WITH AMNESTY

2^nd April, 2013

PRESS RELEASE:

PRESIDENCY PLAYING POLITICS WITH AMNESTY

 

Against the background of guerilla style warfare involving bombings, drive-by shootings and attacks on police stations resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people, there have been demands for the declaration of amnesty for the Boko Haram group which is largely blamed for the attacks. The Presidency yesterday repeated its now very familiar rhetoric that amnesty could not be granted to Boko Haram "because it is a faceless group".       

 

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) regards this as a lame excuse for prolonging the military onslaught on the North. We reject the idea that Boko Haram is faceless because this is just not true. We are aware that the media has received and used video tapes of the Boko Haram group on several occasions. The pictures of the group and that of their leader have also been published on the pages of some Nigerian newspapers.

 

One Abubakar Shekau has claimed to be the group's leader. Though the faces of others were always covered, the leader has not been known to wear any mask, nor does he make any attempt to hide his identity. It is our contention that 'ghosts' do not appear in video tapes. Neither do their pictures appear on the pages of newspapers. Aso Rock must have its own definition of 'ghosts'. The presidency's claim that Boko Haram is faceless is therefore baseless, unfounded and dishonest.

 

MURIC also sees a booby trap in the call by the presidency that Northern leaders should identify Boko Haram. This is as good as setting the North against itself. It is a most unpatriotic call. It is sectional, parochial and self-defeating. The presidency seems to be working on the premise that the Boko Haram phenomenon is a Northern affair. This is a myopic stand. We are constrained to remind Mr. President that the whole country is his constituency.

 

Aso rock is suffering from poverty of statesmanship. A statesman will jettison personal ego and political rigmarole in his search for peace. But this presidency does not appear keen on ensuring peace and stability in Northern Nigeria. On the contrary, Aso Rock seems to have a robust appetite for inflicting suffering on innocent civilians and destroying the economy of a section of the populace.

 

We urge Aso Rock to put an immediate halt to its hocus pocus. All it takes to stop the carnage is a public statement from the presidency promising that any leader or member of Boko Haram who comes out for talks will not be arrested. That will mark the beginning of peaceful negotiations and the end of senseless waste of human lives. The onus is on the presidency to prove its political maturity.

 

Professor Is-haq Akintola,

Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC),
234-818-211-9714

234-803-346-4974

 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC),

234-803-346-4974

234-818-211-9714

E-mail: muslimrightsconcern@yahoo.co.uk

            muslimrights@gmail.com

Website: www.muric.net

Yahoo Group: groups.yahoo.com/group/muslimrights

Blog:       muslimrightsmuric.blogspot.com

Twitter:   twitter.com/muslimrights

               

MURIC's bank account :

Banker's Name: Guaranty Trust Bank

Account Name:        Muslim Rights Concern
Account Number:    0112827277

Be just Justice is the soul of peace

No one can deny one and have the other

Neither can violence or naked force bring lasting peace