MURIC WELCOMES JOLLY NYAME’S SENTENCE

31^st May, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC WELCOMES JOLLY NYAME’S SENTENCE

Ex-Governor Jolly Nyame was yesterday sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory headed by Justice Adebukola Banjoko. The judge also ordered the refund of the sum of N1.64 billion diverted by the ex-governor since May, 2007. Mr Nyame spearheaded the fraudulent transfer of funds from the Taraba state’s treasury to Saman Global, a company which supplies office equipment and stationeries but the goods were never delivered.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) commends the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for doing a thorough investigation.

We also laud the judge who delivered the landmark judgement for her boldness and forthrightness. There is no doubt that her pronouncement will serve as a deterrent for other kleptomaniacs in public service. This judgement marks the beginning of active participation of the judiciary and its cooperation with the executive in anti-graft war.

In addition, we give kudos to the Federal Government (FG) for vigorously pursuing the war against corruption. Nyame’s imprisonment has cemented the resolve of this administration to bring about change in Nigeria. This will bring to five the number of ex-governors sent to jail since the beginning of President Muhammadu Buhari’s war against corruption.

Although he was later set free, James Bala Ngilari, ex-governor of Adamawa State, bagged five years in March 2017. Babangida Aliyu, former Niger State governor, tasted the bitter pill on 25^th April, 2017 when he was remanded in prison. Sule Lamido, ex-governor of Jigawa State was also remanded in prison on 2^nd May, 2017. Jonah Jang, the former governor of Plateau State was remanded in prison custody on May 16, 2018. It is an unprecedented challenge of the status quo ante.  

MURIC therefore calls on Nigerians to show appreciation for this positive development. It implies that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Those who had lost hope in the Nigerian project should now reposition themselves as more evidence has emerged to prove that the stage is set for a better Nigeria.

The main reason for people losing hope in this country has been the general lack of accountability. Crooks in government were stealing with impunity and nobody was ever questioned or arrested. Our values were bastardised. Criminals were celebrated. But change is here. Those who stole our common patrimony are now being made to face the music. It therefore behoves true patriots to rally behind President Muhammadu Buhari and his administration.

Finally, we urge FG to remain focused and consistent in its efforts to clean up the mess in Nigeria and to restore the good name of this great country in the comity of nations. There must be no retreat, no surrender. We charge other judges to emulate Justice Adebukola Banjoko. Judges must sum up enough courage to deal with executive thieves standing trial before them as quickly as possible.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

CHILDREN’S DAY MESSAGE

27^th May, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

CHILDREN’S DAY: PAY ATTENTION TO ALMAJIRI, CULTISM, DRUG ABUSE & AREA BOYS SYNDROME

Children around the world are being celebrated today, Sunday 27^th May, 2018. However, more than ten million al-majiri children face exposure to illiteracy, disease, hunger, starvation, homelessness and child abuse. Although the al-majiri system exists mainly in Northern Nigeria, the health and future of a larger number of underaged Nigerians are being slowly destroyed by cultism, drug abuse and the area-boys syndrome.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) calls attention to these hydra-headed monsters which are capable of swallowing up the Nigerian social order.

We charge the Federal Government (FG) and all state governors to focus their energy on the rehabilitation of children involved in all these anti-social vices. Special centers should be established by governments at federal, state and local government levels for the reengineering of the minds of these children.

In loco parentis, the Glorious Qur’an holds parents accountable for the proper upbringing of children (Qur’an 2:233). Parents’ responsibilities start from children’s infancy when the mother must breastfeed her infant for two whole years in other to make the child wholly human. Children who are breastfed for less period end up being less human because mechanized milk only ends up endowing children with animalistic traits, exposure to opportunistic diseases and a stunted mental growth.

This has been responsible for the emergence of the area boys’ syndrome and symptoms of violence among the youths of today. Children who are breastfed for only one year inherit only fifty percent human qualities and fifty percent of brutish mannerisms. Those breastfed for just three months are worse as they absorb about twelve and a half percent of the Adamic chromosome and eighty eight and a half percent of animal behaviourial pattern. Therefore women have a big chance of turning around worsening morality in society.

In this respect, we appeal to the Federal Government to follow the good example of the Lagos State government (LASG) by raising women’s maternity leave from three months to six. It will be recalled that LASG did this about three years ago. Three months maternity leave makes no sense for women who are expected to breastfeed for two years. It should be noted that paediatricians now recommend that women should give their infants breastmilk only for the first six months after birth. This reveals the divine originality of Islam as only the 1,400 years old Glorious Qur’an recommends this among all other scriptures.

Fathers also have the duty to feed, accommodate and educate their children up till the age of forty years according to the Glorious Qur’an (46:15). The al-majiri practice whereby parents send their children out to mallams only to abandon them there to start begging is therefore contrary to the teachings of Islam. Such parents will be accountable to Allah yawm al-Qiyamah (on the Day of Judgement).

We cannot, in good conscience, turn the blind eye when thousands of underaged children are taking harmful drugs like tramadol and codeine thereby filling our homes with junkies. How can we claim to be a civilized people when we open our eyes and watch as our children turn themselves into domestic atomic bombs waiting to blow up the entire Nigerian society? The insecurity faced by Nigeria today can be traced to parental neglect and ignorance. We should therefore own up and stop blaming government alone for the pervading insecurity in the country.

As we round up, we invite governments at various levels to take action on almajiri children, cultists, area boys and drug addiction among children now because they constitute threats to society. These threats can be reduced to the barest minimum within afew years if we commence action now. We also charge FG in particular and all state governments (except Lagos) to extend women’s maternity leave to six months.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

CAN’S THREAT OF WAR IF LEAH SHARIBU DIES

25^th May, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

CAN’S THREAT OF WAR IF LEAH SHARIBU DIES

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has threatened that there would be war in Nigeria if Leah Sharibu dies in captivity. Some of the demonstrations being staged around the country by CAN have been linked to this development.      

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is irked by this odd threat. It is unbecoming of men in the house of God to issue threats which are likely to lead to massive bloodshed. It is irrational, infantile and ungodly.

The leaders of CAN want to give cheap victory to Boko Haram. We do not need an expert in international diplomacy to interprete the scenario on ground. Boko Haram is using every available means to cause a war between Nigerian Christians and their Muslim neighbours. That was clear in the initial attacks on churches. CAN leaders swallowed the bait at that time and they started accusing Muslims of sponsoring Boko Haram. Muslim leaders were patient.

CAN did not stop accusing Muslim leaders of connivance until they saw that Boko Haram was actually killing more Muslims than Christians.  This Leah Sharibu incident is Boko Haram’s last card along the same mission and we expect CAN leaders to know better. But CAN cannot. CAN has its own political agenda. Or does it really make sense? The hoodlums abducted girls and released all except the only Christian in their midst. It is part of the terrorists’ propaganda. They are anarchists seeking to throw the nation into higeldy-pigeldy.  Can’t CAN get it?

We strongly suspect that CAN is deliberately creating a conundrum. Leah Sharibu was abducted. Who abducted her? Boko Haram. Muslim leaders have rejected Boko Haram. Muslims are also victims of Boko Haram. CAN now wants war. Against who? Against Muslims. Is it logical? Does it make sense at all? CAN is playing into the hands of Boko Haram. It would have made a little sense if CAN had said, “Boko Haram refused to release Lear Sharibu. Therefore we are going after Boko Haram insurgents. Sambisa Forest here we come.”

The Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’d Abubakar, said ab initio that Boko Haram and all terrorists are evil. He called on all Nigerians to join hands with him to fight this evil. But now instead of fighting the transparent evil, CAN wants to fight the Muslims. We assure CAN that millions of Muslims will join if it makes a more responsible statement like asking Muslims to join Christians in invading Boko Haram hideouts in Sambisa. MURIC is ready for that.

We are constrained to ask what kind of neighbours are CAN leaders? Why are they always threatening fire and brimstone? Is this bully complex compatible with the pastoral profession? Is it acceptable as a quality among religionists? We call the attention of the whole world to the belligerent attitude of Nigeria’s Christian leaders. The rest of the world should take note now so that it will be clear who is stoking the fire of war.  

CAN appears to be having a conflict of identity with its mission and vission running riots. Religious leaders are not expected to behave like young students seeking attention. We can understand when student leaders call for aluta but elderly men in cassock singing songs of war calls for serious introspection in order to avoid, among other things, the concomitant loss of respect even among followers. 

Come to think of it, where was CAN when General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) as head of state ordered the killing of Odi people in Benue State? Where was CAN during the tenure of ex-president Jonathan when Boko Haram killed hundreds of Muslims and displaced thousands in the North East? Was CAN on sabbatical when hundreds were killed in the recurring Pleauteau communal killings before 2015? Were those thousands of lives lost during those periods not worth protesting for?

So CAN can make noise now because a Muslim is in power? But CAN could look the other way when Christians were in power, particularly when the billions were flowing in the immediate past regime and Jerusalem trips were shorter than walks from home to church? We can understand this particularly now that the pecuniary tap in Aso Rock is dry.

Instead of threatening war, the responsible thing to do as religious leaders is to dialogue with the government of the day in order to know its challenges. CAN is behaving as if the arsenal of weapons brought in via several clandestine flights in Jonathan’s days are yearning for use. All we heard was that one flight to South Africa scandalized Jonathan and Ayo Oritsejafor, the former president of CAN. We have evey reason to believe that several other flights had been successful before then and even after the exposure. Only those who have been preparing for war against their neighbours for years will be so bellicose and so daring.

MURIC does not issue threats but nobody under the sun can make us tremble. It is not in our character. We face our destiny as Allah has designed it. Neither do we plot evil against our neighbours. We are ever willing to coexist peacefully with our Christian neighbours. Different faiths should not be the cause for hostilities. We have so many things in common. Humanity is numero uno among those things we have in common. Afterall we are all from Adam and Adam was from ordinary dust.

We call on world leaders, the US, Britain, etc, to note the excesses of Nigerian Christian leaders. In particular, we invite Christian leaders in the West African subregion to counsel their brothers-in-Christ. We call for prayers for the innocent girl, Leah Sharibu. Let us pray that Allah will veer the terrorists’ minds towards setting her free within a very short time. Let us pray for her safety. Let us also pray for the safe return of the remaining Chibok girls.

Before we round up, we plead with Christians from all walks of life to make CAN leadership see reason. What do they want to gain from war? The leaders of CAN should also be told to put their own children in the forefront when the war they threaten breaks out. CAN should stop all these attention-seeking gimmicks. We charge CAN to wage its war against Boko Haram ‘the evil’ and not against innocent, law-abiding and peace-loving Muslims. Aso Rock’s current landlord has no billions to doll out. Unlike his predecessor, he does not spray public money.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

EKITI 2018: FAYEMI SHOULD PICK MUSLIM DEPUTY

23^rd May, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

EKITI 2018: FAYEMI SHOULD PICK MUSLIM DEPUTY 

Kolapo Olusola, a Christian and gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the July 2, 2018 election in Ekiti State, has picked a Muslim as his running mate. Although some Muslims in the state reportedly jubilated over the appointment, the state branch of the National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations (NACOMYO) has cautioned that it is too early for that.

   

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is on the same page with the state branch of NACOMYO. We can see the fingers of the state governor, Ayodele Fayose in the pie being fried for the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate, Olusola. We have no iota of doubt that Fayose influenced the decision to pick a Muslim as deputy for Olusola for his own selfish reasons.

While we admit that it is a deft move, we wish to throw a caveat emptor. Ekiti Muslims should not repose their trust in Ayodele Fayose because of his antecedents. Fayose, a Muslim-hater, is bending all over to exploit Muslims. Having realized that his time is up and that his choice candidate has a very slim chance, Fayose is now courting Muslim votes to shore up his lapses.

Fayose wants to eat his cake and still have it. But what did he do with the Muslims during his tenure? How many Muslims did he appoint to political positions? MURIC cried out in September 2015 over Fayose’s all Christian cabinet. What does Fayose think he can still do for Muslims when he had a Christian Deputy Governor, a Christian speaker, a Christian Deputy Speaker, and a Christian Chief of Staff? What does he and his party want with Muslims now after ignoring our cries for four good years? It is too late. Clowning will not help. Wearing turban will not help either. The die is cast.  

All the state’s judges under Fayose are Christians. All the fourteen (14) commissioners in the State are Christians. All the twenty six (26) permanent secretaries are Christians. Fayose only gave Muslims one Special adviser. Special adviser my foot!

He did not stop there. All the state’s 5-member boards are Christians including Only one Muslim is a board member in the whole of Ekiti. The 7-member boards of colleges of education and that of health technology are all Christians. All the sixteen (16) education secretaries are Christians while all the sixteen (16) local government caretaker chairmen are Christians except one.

Fayose deliberately impoverished Muslims. Even the Muslim deputy he has picked now is the only local government chairman in the state. So he is not new in Fayose’s administration. It is a dirty trick. Muslims in the state should ‘shine their eyes’ very well.

Those who say South West people are tolerant should borrow a leaf from this. It is the Muslims who are bearing the brunt. There is no religious tolerance in the South West. As individual Christians and Muslims, yes. We live together in the same houses and work together in the same workplaces. Christians and Muslims exist in the same families. We also intermarry. But as a body of Muslims, capital ‘NO’. Anything that will benefit South West Muslims or Islam as an institution is always fiercely resisted by South West Christians.

The only way to checkmate Fayose now is for the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to also pick a Muslim as his running mate. Muslims in the state know Fayemi very well. Unlike Fayose who is a Muslim-hater, Fayemi showed Muslims love when he was governor in the state. Fayemi’s wife, a very decent woman, is a practicing Muslim. It was Fayemi, a Christian governor, who made the bold move of issuing the circular which allowed female Muslim students in the state to use hijab. Fayemi is a liberal to the core.

MURIC wants Ekiti Muslims to know their true friends and to know those who want to deceive them. “Fool me once, shame on you. But fool me again, shame on me.” There goes the wise saying. We will not be enslaved twice. Was it not Fayose who went on mosque-demolition sprees? Is it so long ago? Who ordered the shutting down of your Arabic classes in Ado Ekiti?

Was it not the same Fayose who got power-drunk that he publicly lambasted our revered Shaykh Muhyideen the famous Ansarud-deen preacher? Can he do that to his pastor? What did his party do about his atrocities? Did they make any attempt to placate Muslims in the state? Fayose is a Muslim hater and Ekiti Muslims should not come near him with a long pole, particularly at this crucial period. Those who have ignored us and oppressed us all this while cannot, with any iota of sincerity, claim to be our friends in election period.

In the meantime we exhort all Muslims in Ekiti State to get their PVCs. We are not advocating religion as a criterion in voting. Vote for true democrats and cool-headed politicians. Vote for diligence. Vote for integrity. Avoid Fayose and other unpredictable politicians who have made life miserable for you in the past. Avoid those who demolish your mosques and those who closed your Arabic classes. It is pay back time and the exercise is just beginning. We can’t wait to see Fayose in Kirikiri. The evil that men do…  

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)