7th April, 2017
PRESS RELEASE:
PLANNED
DEMOLITION OF MOSQUES:
FAYOSE
IS PLAYING WITH FIRE
Four mosques were last week marked for demolition by the Ayodele
Fayose administration in Ekiti State. The state government claimed that
worshippers could contact cancer from the radioactive emission from the petrol
stations where the mosques are located.
The Muslim Rights
Concern (MURIC) condemns the attempt to demolish the mosques. It is an act of
aggression against the peace-loving and law-abiding Muslims of the state. It is
primitive, provocative and sadistic. It is an undisguised invitation to
anarchy.
The state government’s excuse of exposure to cancer is lame,
infantile, laughable and untenable. What of hundreds of petrol attendants who
have been serving in petrol stations in Ekiti State since its inception on 1st
October 1996? How many of them have had cases of cancer? How many petrol
attendants in the whole of Nigeria have been exposed to radioactive emissions?
Can the claim be certified by the World Health Organisation? Fayose’s public
health adviser must be from hell!
But the wind has blown and we have seen the ruff of the hen.
Fayose’s radioactive emission is a mere cloak for political vendetta. It has
since been revealed that all the four petrol stations involved belong to Alhaji
Suleman Akinbami, a chieftain of the opposition party.
Fayose has probably forgotten that the end users of those
mosques are the Muslims of Ekiti State and the petrol dealer cum philanthropist
hardly uses them. It is impossible, at least, for him to physically worship in
all the four mosques simultaneously. This is where Fayose misfired. He is
invariably targeting Muslims in Ekiti State by attempting to demolish those
mosques but he has forgotten that anyone who attacks a mosque anywhere in
Nigeria has courted the wrath of Nigerian Muslims. Ekiti State governor is
waging war against Islam. Fayose has murdered sleep and he shall sleep no more.
Yet we cannot trust Fayose when it comes to matters affecting
Muslims. He may be killing two birds with one stone. To put it more succinctly,
by demolishing the four mosques, Fayose hopes to punish a political opponent
and also castigate Ekiti Muslims whom he hates so much at the same time.
His antecedents bear vehement testimonies
to his pathological hatred for Muslims and their religion. It will be recalled
that Fayose formed an all-Christian government after assumption of office in
2015. His deputy governor, secretary to the state government, all 14
commissioners, all 26 permanent secretaries are Christians.
Using the Ekiti State Independent Electoral
Commission (EKSIEC), Fayose in December 2015 banned Muslim women in hijab from
partaking in the local government elections thereby effectively
disenfranchising a large section of Muslims.
Known
for constantly running diarrhea of the mouth, Fayose accused President
Muhammadu Buhari of Islamising Nigeria just because the latter visited Saudi
Arabia in February 2016. But he did not see any Christianisation agendum when
his principal, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan was shuttling between Abuja and
Tel Aviv every fortnight. His open bigotry and untethered hatred for Muslims
makes him the governor with the worst record of Christian-Muslim relations in
the whole wide world.
Drunk
with absolute power which corrupts absolutely, Fayose has rebuffed the request
of leaders of the Ekiti Muslim community to meet him over the mosques marked
for demolition. Consequently, the Muslim leaders have suspended today’s Jum’ah
prayer in all the four mosques affected. Thus Fayose will be remembered as the
Christian dictator and fanatical chief executive who stopped Muslims of Ekiti
State from worshipping their Creator.
MURIC charges Muslims in the state to
repose their confidence in Allah who is their Supreme Creator and the Creator
of Fayose and other tyrants of the world. It is decreed that Fayose will go one
day but Almighty Allah will be there forever. Fayose’s power will melt away one
day like ice cream in the burning desert sun. “All that is on earth will
perish. Only the face of your Lord will abide forever…” (Glorious Qur’an 55:26
– 27).
Fayose’s
power is ephemeral. He will soon become an ‘ex-this and ex-that’. We urge the
Imams in Ekiti to magnanimously visit Fayose in Kirikiri after his tenure as governor when he
eventually starts to account for his abuse of power while in office. We urge
Ekiti Muslims to resist Fayose’s illegal attempt to destroy those mosques. They
must go to court, get a restraining order and continue to pray there.
Where are those who claim that Christians are persecuted in
the North? The tragedy of the Nigerian nation lies in the hypocrisy of the
elite class and the collusion of the media in the South-West axis. The whole
world can see how a Christian governor is persecuting Muslims but Nigeria’s
social critics have maintained an unusual silence. Where are the Soyinkas and
the Falanas? These people see nothing wrong so long as it is Christians who are
perpetrating evil. Oh God, what have we done? Fayose, Fayose, Fayose, how many
times did we call you? Why persecuteth thou Muslims?
Muslims may be left
with no option than to make Ekiti ungovernable for Fayose if he goes ahead to
demolish those mosques. Freedom of worship is enshrined in Nigeria’s
constitution and civil disobedience is the inalienable right of a persecuted
people. Those who make it impossible for us to worship freely are guilty of a
crime. Every patriotic citizen has the obligation to disobey illegal, unlawful
and unconstitutional orders. We will resist this oppression if the system will
do nothing about it.
In conclusion, we call
on well-meaning citizens of Ekiti State to call this ravaging governor to
order. He cannot trample on Allah-Given fundamental rights of Muslims and
expect them to put their tails between their legs like frightened dogs. Already,
Muslims in the state embarked on a peaceful demonstration two days ago. We
haven’t seen anything yet. We should do everything possible to prevent this
crisis from snowballing into a national mayhem. Those who know Fayose’s first name
should call him to order now.
Professor
Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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