25th June, 2018
PRESS RELEASE:
CHRISTIAN ELDERS FORUM
RELIVING DON QUIXOTE - MURIC
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has compared the National
Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) to Don Quixote, Don Quixote, a legendary knight
who fought imaginary foes on a non-existent battle field. Don Quixote was the
creation of Miguel de Cervantes in his novel entitled Don Quixote which was
published in two parts in 1605 and 1615.
It will be recalled
that NCEF, under the chairmanship of Solomon Asemota SAN, made several
allegations at a press conference held in Abuja on Friday 22nd June,
2018.
The group accused the
Buhari administration of embarking on stealth jihad because all its June 12
awardees (Chief M. K. O. Abiola, Baba Gana Kingibe and Chief Gani Fawehinmi) were
Muslims “ostensibly to swell the ranks of Muslims in the roll call of these
awards.”
NCEF also alleged that “EFCC is becoming the prosecuting arm of the
Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI)”; that “the 1975 coup (and other preceding coups),
were jihad, promoted for the Islamization of Nigeria for Sharia to replace
democracy”; that “the current Federal Government in Nigeria is openly pursuing
an anti-Christian agenda that has resulted in countless murders of Christians…”
and that “The present generation of Christians in Nigeria may cease to exist in
25 years from now (2043), beginning from 2018” due to incessant killings.
But in a reaction signed by the director of the organization,
Professor Ishaq Akintola, MURIC held that it could not resist laughing at these
allegations. “They are all baseless, unfounded and ridiculous. They exist only
in the figment of NCEF’s imagination. These allegations are symptomatic of intellectual
poverty and desertification of thinking faculty. NCEF is reliving Don Quixote. MURIC
is laughing in Latin.”
Continuing, the Islamic human rights organization said, “We are
constrained to ask if we need to conduct an all-encompassing examination of medical
fitness for religious leaders in Nigeria. How can anyone just jump to the
conclusion that the present administration which merely yielded to persistent
agitations over the June 12 saga was engaging in jihad because all the June 12
awardees are Muslims.
“NCEF has deliberately and most wickedly twisted a
coincidence to whip up gymnastic religiousity. The group also goofed by saying
that Abiola was not a Sunni Muslim. How much of Abiola’s Islam do they know? This
claim amounts to desecration of the dead.”
MURIC pointedly
denied any connection between JNI and EFCC. “How could there be a connection
between the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) and EFCC?” It querried. “Was it
not Obasanjo who established the EFCC? The last time we checked,
Obasanjo had not made up his mind to become a Muslim. NCEF’s imagination is
running wild. Nigerians should not be surprised if by tomorrow NCEF claims that
the Saudi king is plotting to become the next American president in order to
Islamise the whole West.
“If Nigerian Muslims have
never claimed that the January 15, 1966 coup was an attempt at Christianising
the country, how can NCEF, in its rational moment (which of course is very
rare), claim that the 1975 coup was a jihad?”
Akintola argued that
facts on ground also rubbish NCEF’s allegation that the Buhari administration
is pursuing an anti-Christian agenda. According to him, “Christians have more
cabinet positions in this regime. Christians and Muslims have 18 ministers each
but both the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation as well as the Head of Service are Christians. This gives Christians
20 positions while Muslims remain 18. Yet Muslims have not started complaining.
NCEF needs to check its mathematical expertise. 18 cannot be higher than 20.
NCEF’s vituperations are portraying Nigerian Christians in bad light and that
is to say the least.”
The Islamic group
also contends that the large number of Muslim casualties in the ongoing
killings has belied NCEF’s claim of the killing of Christians. “It has been
established beyond any reasonable doubt that more Muslims have fallen victims
and the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) which has risen above 1.5
million Muslims has further cemented this position. Therefore, NCEF is merely
crying wolf where none exists with its allegation that the present generation of
Christians in Nigeria may cease to exist in 25 years from now.
“One of the most
wicked claims of NCEF is that only Christians are being haunted and jailed by
EFCC. Col. Sambo Dasuki has been in detention for almost three years. Did NCEF hear
of any claim from JNI or from the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs
(NSCIA) that a Muslim is being persecuted? What of the former governors of
Niger and Jigawa states? Are they not Muslims and have they not fallen under
EFCC axe?
“These allegations are as ridiculous as saying that Buhari
is Islamising the Green Eagles and that was why he strategically placed Ahmed
Musa in Iceland’s eighteen to score two goals for Nigeria in the ongoing World
Cup in Russia. NCEF pontifications can also be likened to declaring that although
his predecessor returned a meager N50 million in seven years, Professor Ishaq Oloyede
as JAMB registrar returned a mind-boggling N7.8 billion naira to the Federal
Government (FG) in order to Islamise the Joint Admissions and Matriculations
Board (JAMB). Not to be left out of the Islamisation race, Hameed Ali fetched
FG a record N1 trillion from Customs in 2017 alone.”
MURIC said it could not help wondering why NCEF must demonise
performers. “Why must excellence be sacrificed on the altar of mediocrity? Who
stopped Obasanjo from Christianising Nigeria by giving us light instead of
darkness for our $26 billion? Why didn’t Jonathan Christianise this country by treating
stealing as corruption?”
Akintola maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari, Professor
Ishaq Oloyede and Hameed Ali have become reference points in integrity. “Religion
and other sentiments apart, Nigerians see them as models. These three men have
set standards, not for religion or for Muslims alone, but for all Nigerians and
their successors will have a moral burden on their consciences if they perform
below them particularly in the areas of probity and accountability.”
MURIC blamed Christian elders forum for yielding to perception. “Apart
from deliberate mischief, perception appears to be NCEF’s major undoing, the
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) therefore needs urgent re-engineering of
the perception of its flock. In particular CAN should fumigate its immediate
environment in order to rid it of this notorious NCEF Islamisation virus. CAN should
also beware of dissidence in the body of Christ in Nigeria as we suspect open
rebellion in NCEF’s statement. CAN is therefore advised to call NCEF to order.
“As we round off, MURIC urges
NCEF to allow excellence to determine rewards, not mediocrity. We should let
integrity supplant mediocrity as the criterion and accept credibility as the yardstick
instead of ethnicity while antecedence replaces religion and all other
primordial sentiments. We should liberalise our thinking, Nigerianise our
orientation and stop seeing religious colouring in everything. As at today,
NCEF is living in the land of fantasy with its quixotic disposition. The
earlier it faces reality, the better.”
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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