MURIC HAILS BUHARI FOR INCREASING POLICE PAY

29^th November, 2018      

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC HAILS BUHARI FOR INCREASING POLICE PAY

   

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday announced a huge increase in the salary of the Nigerian Police. The increase affects all policemen from the highest to the lowest rank.

Meanwhile the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has hailed the president for taking this action. In a press statement issued on Thursday 29^th November, 2018, the human rights organization said it welcomed the decision with great pleasure.

“It is a new dawn. President Buhari has energized our police. This is the kind of motivation the police needs. The increase which is said to be about 300% above the former salary will address the country’s security challenge and substantially reduce bribery and corruption in the system.

“It is the greatest motivation ever received by the Nigerian police. Nigerians have been blaming the police wrongly for sometime now. But MURIC has been consistent in analyzing the situation very objectively. We have always placed the blame on lack of motivation, poor salary structure, lack of welfare and poor equipment.

“We commend Buhari for listening to our cries. This is a listening leader. No administration in the history of this country has done so much for the police department. When Buhari assumed office, the police force had just 317,000 men watching over a population of more than 220 million when the global best practice as recommended by the United Nations is one policeman to every 500 citizens.  

“Within the spate of three years, he has increased police population to 334,000. He first approved the recruitment of 10,000 about two years ago and another 6,000 not long after that. There is no iota of doubt that Buhari will do more if he is given another four years in power.

“If we compare his performance to that of his predecessors we will find a huge difference. In 2002, the Federal Government (FG) promised to recruit 40,000 policemen annually. That promise remained on paper till today. Although Buhari did not make any promise to the police during the 2015 electioneering campaigns, he has come up with surprise packages for them.

The release which was signed by the director and founder of the group, Professor Ishaq Akintola, took up President Buhari’s critics.

 “The wailers may still not see change in this development. We respect constructive criticism but we find it difficult to understand blind and fanatical doubting Thomases. Perpetual wailers have failed to see Buhari’s home grown school feeding programme which has accommodated over nine million children across twenty two states. They have ignored FG’s trader-moni which gives direct empowerment to market women across the country. They have turned the blind eye at N-Power volunteer corps which employs 500,000 Nigerian graduates.

“Yet there is more. The Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) gives N5,000 monthly to the extremely poor. In the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, a soft loan scheme targets 1.6 million women, traders, artisans, small businesses and youths. Under the scheme, soft loans of between N10,000 and N100,000 is given to these categories of people without interest with a repayment period of three months to six months and administration cost of 5 per cent by the Bank of Industry.

“It appears that Buhari’s Social intervention programmes (SIPs) annoy wailers because Buhari is sharing money to the poor masses directly instead of putting it in the private pockets of politicians. This was the practice during the sixteen years of pillage. But change is here. It is no longer business as usual. The tap from which money was flowing into the buckets of politicians has been turned off courtesy of BVN and Treasury Single Account (TSA). Stealing is now corruption.   

“Wailers are on their own if they still cannot appreciate this administration. Objectivity demands that one shows respect even for the enemy when the latter achieves an extraordinary feat. Buhari recognized June 12 but instead of admitting the giant stride, wailers said it was politics. They said he was buying votes with the welfare programmes.

“FG is building the second Niger Bridge which previous administrations have failed to attend to despite humongous allocations earmarked for the project. That project which will cost N210 billion is 50% complete. Lagos-Ibadan rail line which is gulping $1.4 billion is 80% complete. Nigerians are being shown pictures and video clips of the progress of these projects yet wailers are yelling. We have no doubt that wailers will still complain even if Buhari constructs Macadam roads to their bedrooms. Wailers are haters.  

“We are waiting to see how the spoilsports in the National Assembly (NASS) will frustrate this good move. We want to see how increase in police salary will be ambushed. It is in the character of some politicians to spoil the good work of government so as to make the president unpopular, with the hope that this will enhance their own inordinate ambition of seizing the reins of power.

“But Nigerians are not fools. They know those who are causing distraction. They know those who are overambitious. They know those who want to rule by hook or by crook. But above all, Almighty Allah is waiting for those who plot against the Nigerian people, ‘Verily your Lord lies in wait’ (Qur’an 89:14  Inna Rabbaka labil-mirsaad)”.

“Just yesterday Buhari reduced JAMB and NECO examination fees from N5,000 to N3,500 in order to make it easier for children of the poor to register for those crucial examinations. These and other welfarist innovations of this administration further cement our conviction that Buhari cares.

“Yet as we appreciate President Buhari’s great contributions to growth particularly the new police salary structure, we must ask for more, just like Oliver Twist. The police still needs better equipment. Every policeman should have a walkie-talkie and a pistol stuck in his belt. Patrol cars should come at one for every two policemen. We also call for improved welfare like life insurance scheme for the police.   

MURIC also commended the Police Service Commission. “We appreciate the Police Service Commission under the able leadership of Alhaji Musiliu Smith. We can feel the commision’s contribution in the recent development.

“We call on the police to remember the old aphorism that to whom much is given, much is expected. They should reciprocate with the speed of light. We are in a season of change. Nigerians want action.

“In our closing remarks, we urge President Buhari to march on with the change mantra. He should ignore all distractions and face the good work that he is doing. We, the patriotic citizens of Nigeria who voted for change have seen the change. We salute Buhari’s doggedness. For the umpteenth time, we declare that Buhari deserves a second term”.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

FAYOSE MUST RETURN MUSLIM LAND

27^th November, 2018      

PRESS RELEASE:

FAYOSE MUST RETURN MUSLIM LAND

    

Ahmadiyyah Muslims held a massive protest in Ado Ekiti penultimate Saturday, 17^th November, 2018 against ex-governor Ayodele Fayose. The group, under the leadership of Mr. Bashiru Alawode, accused the former governor of forcefully acquiring its land to build a petrol station for his own son.

According to the group, an Ahmadiyyah mosque was built on the land since the early 40s but they decided to demolish it recently because it was built with old moulded blocks. The group maintained that the intention was to put up a modern mosque to replace the old one but Fayose seized the land in the interregnum and started building a petrol station there.        

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has added its voice to the controversy. The Islamic human rights group described Fayose’s action as tyrannical, totalitarian and immoral. MURIC registered its intervention in a press release signed by its director and founder, Professor Ishaq Akintola on Tuesday, 27^th November, 2018.

“Fayose’s action is shameful. He is a political misnomer and an unmitigated disaster. He has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is an oppressor without borders. How can a whole sitting governor confiscate a piece of land belonging to the Muslim community for personal use? This is oppression of the highest order. Fayose is a selfish demagogue, a political charlatan and a skullduggery primus inter pareil.

“This is a man who pretended that he was a friend of the Ekiti masses. He rode okada in public. He ate roasted corn by the roadside all in an effort to deceive the people that he belonged to the hoi polloi. But the wind has blown now and we have seen the ruff of the hen. Fayose is a shenanigan nulli secundus. Napoleon Bonaparte was right when he said ‘Men are led by toys’.

“Fayose must return Muslim land. Any land on which a mosque is built is Allah’s land. Seizing that land was audacious in the first place and by that action the former governor has only confirmed that he has no fear of God. This man needs to repent or he will face Allah’s wrath.  

“He has also proved his pathological hatred for Muslims by commandeering their piece of land. We have always said that Fayose is a Muslim hater. Are we not vindicated now? Why should he seize mosque land of all the landed properties in Ekiti State? Why Muslim land? The same Fayose went on a demolition spree of mosques in the state when he was governor. The same Fayose refused to give Muslims in the state any political appointment. He was widely known for his extremely lopsided political appointments: an all-Christian cabinet and all-Christian board members and chairmen. It was impunity ad infinitum. Fayose has left a pitiable legacy of endogamy.

“Muslims in Ekiti State must realize that rights are never given on a platter of gold. You struggle for it. Dare to struggle, dare to win. There is no gain without pain. No people ever overcome their downpressors without struggle. American blacks went through that experience. South Africans regained their land through struggle.

“The travails and eventual victory of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Martin Luther King Jnr, Nelson Mandela, Haile Selassie, Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, Agostinho Neto, Samora Machel and other icons of civil liberty, black struggle and African revolution bear eloquent testimonies to this assertion. Ekiti Muslims must therefore rise as one to give Fayose sleepless nights. The demonstration which started last week must not stop although it must always be peaceful.

“Muslims must visit Fayose’s private residence in Ado Ekiti with placards on a regular basis particularly on Fridays. They must march on Fayose’s house straight from the Jum’ah prayer on Fridays. Taunt Fayose with Bandiri drums. Let Alasalatu women surround his house chanting Islamic ditties (waka). Occupy his street until he surrenders the land. They must repeat the same thing every Salah day as they return from Id al-Fitr and Id al-Kabiir prayers. Like Macbeth, Fayose has murdered sleep. He shall sleep no more. Our people say ‘he who steals a poor man’s chicken has offended the most garrulous story-teller’”.   

MURIC appealed to the current governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, to intervene in the matter.

“The current governor is a gentleman to the core. We are appealing to him for redress and we hope he will placate Ekiti Muslims, not only on the matter of Ahmadiyyah land seized by the tyrant but also on the issue of political appointments”.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

MURIC DEMANDS PROBE OF BOKO HARAM METELE FIASCO

26^th November, 2018      

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC DEMANDS PROBE OF BOKO HARAM METELE FIASCO

   

Boko Haram terrorists on Monday, 19^th November, 2018, overran the 157 Task Force Battalion at Metele Village in Guzamala Local Government Area of Borno State. About seventy Nigerian soldiers allegedly lost their lives during the encounter. The high death toll has already caught the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari who summoned top brass in the Nigerian military command to review the situation..

Reacting to the high death toll on the soldiers’ side, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) expressed consternation, dismay and shock. MURIC’s reaction was contained in a press statement released on Monday, 26^th November, 2018. The statement was signed by the group’s director and founder, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

“This is audacious, benumbing and preposterous. We are nonplussed. This is a national tragedy of no little proportion. We join millions of other patriotic Nigerians to mourn these fallen heroes. Our hearts go to those gallant soldiers who paid the supreme sacrifice for their country in active service. We ask Nigerians to pray for them and their families. We also implore our religious leaders to organize special prayers for total victory over the insurgents.

“But we must not spend all the time on our mats and knees praying. We must, in the spirit of ora et labora, work more and pray less because it is our handiwork that Allah will crown with glory. Allah himself confirmed this position when He said, ‘Tell them to work and Allah will see (i.e. He will reward you for) your work…’ (Glorious Qur’an 9:105).

“The question that arises here is how much work did we do? How well did we prepare for the insurgents? There are allegations that neglect and sabotage caused the Metele fiasco. Soldiers in that axis reportedly complained of poor weaponry but nothing was done about it.

“We are therefore demanding a probe of events which led to the overrunning of Metele and the merciless killing of Nigerian soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents.

“MURIC recalls a similar situation in 2014 when 54 Nigerian soldiers complained to their commander that their weapons were too poor to confront better equipped Boko Haram fighters. They had earlier lost 23 men and four officers due to poor equipment when they advanced on Damboa on 9^th July, 2014. This made them to demand better supplies but they were rounded up instead. They were consequently tried and sentenced to death but this was later commuted to ten years imprisonment. They are still in jail as we speak.

“What kind of people are we? Why must those who work for us suffer unnecessary hardship on account of the services they render? Why must soldiers who are defending our territorial integrity be punished unjustly? Those 54 soldiers would have been slaughtered like rams in 2014 if they had not raised objection and refused an illegal order. Their refusal to march on insurgents with bare hands created the awareness of the existence of massive fraud in the army. Why must they still be in jail today? MURIC therefore calls for presidential pardon for the 54 soldiers. They should be treated as whistle-blowers and heroes for exposing graft”. 

MURIC also descended on Western powers for delaying the supply of sophisticated weapons to Nigeria and for playing tortuous politics with the issue. “We are bemused that strange conditionalities are pushed forward each time the issue of supplying better weapons to Nigeria in its fight against terrorism is raised before Western countries. They raise baseless issues of human rights and tie remote incidents to the supply. Those countries are not behaving like friends at all.

“But what moral right do we have to blame outsiders when Nigerian lawmakers are the country’s worst enemies? They have never displayed any unity of purpose when the presidency requests funds to purchase sophisticated weapons. We recall the National Assembly’s strong objection and procrastination when President Muhammadu Buhari asked for $1 billion for more arms in February 2018. It is paradoxical that the same unpatriotic elements are now blaming the presidency for the Metele tragedy.

“We urge Nigerians to open their eyes. We must never surrender the national mandate to shenanigans, egocentric and unpatriotic politicians in 2019. Never again, never again must we allow those who supervised the debilitation and emaciation of Nigerian troops to occupy the seat of power. They diverted huge amounts of money meant for arms for our soldiers to the extent that our soldiers started running each time they saw Boko Haram fighters. It is a shame that some of the drammatis personae can still blame the current administration for what happened at Metele. It is also a manifestation of gross insensitivity for anyone to politicize the disaster.  

“This is food for thought for the Nigerian civil society. We are particularly miffed by the silence of powerful groups like the Nigerian Labour Congress on the moral debauchery, open blackmail and daylight robbery of our common patrimony going on in the NASS. The latter armtwisted the executive in virtually every aspect of administration yet nobody spoke out. Revelations were made about their illegal and atrocious salaries and unlawful emoluments. Nobody did as much as whisper.

“NASS delayed the 2018 budget for seven months and nobody did as much as whimper. The same NASS cut allocations to vital areas in the budget and added the deductions to its own in brazen exploitation and legislative rascality. Yet the same NLC ignored this and went on strike to put additional pressure on an overstressed administration. Silence is not golden in moments like these.

“Nonetheless, Metele or no Metele, we assert clearly, emphatically and unequivocally that Boko Haram remains technically defeated. A group of terrorists who once occupied 17 local governments, terrorized three North Eastern states (Adamawa, Borno and Yobe) and extended its tentacle of bombing terror to Kano and Abuja has been reduced to a shadow of itself. It is now restricted to acts of cowardice, hiding behind little girls who play the role of suicide bombers, engaging in seasonal guerilla warfare and disguising as friendly soldiers to gain access into the camps of gallant Nigerian soldiers”. 

MURIC also sent a strong message to Nigerian soldiers fighting Boko Haram in the North East.

“To our gallant soldiers, both officers and other ranks, we salute you all. You have done well and many of you deserve medals. We are proud of you. We know all about your sacrifices for the sake of our dear country. You are on sentry all night so that we can sleep peacefully. You face hardship so that Nigeria may remain one indivisible entity. Boko Haram would have taken Abuja but for your gallantry.

“You are our heroes. We are with you in your advance on the enemy. We assure you that you are not alone. We share your pains. Your victories gladden our hearts. We are with you in the trenches. Come rain, come shine, we will never abandon you. We are on our prayer mats in the mosques and on our knees in the churches as you battle the enemy. We charge you to forge forward. To flush out Boko Haram is a task that must be done.

“As we round off, we charge the Federal Government to quickly institute a probe of the Metele fiasco. We plead for presidential prerogative of mercy for the 54 soldiers. We call on Nigerians to treat those responsible for diverting arms money to their personal pockets like political lepers in 2019. They should not touch them with a long pole”.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

STOP NEW KILLINGS OF MUSLIM TRAVELLERS BY BEROM

21^st November, 2018      

PRESS RELEASE:

STOP NEW KILLINGS OF MUSLIM TRAVELLERS BY BEROM

   

The spokesman of Operation Safe Haven in Plateau State, Major Adam Umar, has confirmed the killing of two Muslim travelers at Nding Sesut village of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Plateau State on Sunday night. According to him, two other persons were also injured while one escaped unhurt.

Although the army spokesman did not actually identify the killers as Berom youth, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has denounced the killing and pointed accusing fingers at the former. In a press statement issued on Wednesday, 21^st November, 2018, the human rights organization alleged that Berom youths were still killing Muslim travelers.

“We have the names of the two dead victims. They are Tanimu Sanusi and Usman Inusa. They were members of Vegetable Sellers Association at the Building Materials Market in Jos. They were returning from Barkin Ladi when they were attacked. Abdullahi Muhammad is one of the two persons injured.

“The army spokesman is being diplomatic by not pinning the killing on Berom youths. MURIC has a duty to cry out and reveal the true identity of the killers. They are Berom youths. The survivors made the revelation. The reference to the possibility of an armed robbery attack by the army spokesman is part of the tact being employed by the army. They took the victims’ car away to divert attention. Armed robbers are not in the habit of killing their victims.

“No money was snatched and no cell phones were collected from the victims. Our bet is that the victims’ car is now lying under one of the ponds in the neighbourhood. There are more than 80 such ponds there and the late General Alkali’s car was found inside one of them”.  

According to Professor Ishaq Akintola, the director and founder of MURIC who signed the statement, the Berom are recalcitrant.

“These are people who have tasted human flesh before. They can never be the same again. They massacred hundreds of Muslims in 2011. They roasted their victims on the spot and ate them up. Like the leopard which cannot change its skin, cannibals are always thirsty for more human meat. Besides, Berom youths allegedly trained as killers in Israel are constantly looking for ‘game’ and ‘bush meat’.

“This is an indubitable proof of the meaninglessness of Governor Lalong’s apology. How can the governor be apologizing while his kinsmen continue to kill innocent travelers? Coming barely a week after the burial of the late General Alkali (rtd), a strong evidence of continued criminality is emerging. It is unacceptable. The Beroms are not showing remorse at all.

“MURIC therefore demands that the army must announce the outcome of investigations being conducted into the recent attack on Muslim travellers. We charge the army and other security agencies on ground to heighten their vigilance. The Berom capacity to inflict any harm on travelers must be categorically neutralized. There is an urgent need for military checkpoints in strategic places along roads used by travelers. Regular military patrols are also mandatory.

“While we commend the army for its gallantry, relentlessness and adherence to the rules of engagement even in the face of provocation, we assert the Allah-given fundamental human right of Nigerian Muslims to move freely without let or hinderance. This right is stipulated in Section 41 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Government of Nigeria, ‘Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof…’ It therefore behoves the Nigerian security agencies to ensure that the Berom are not allowed to abridge the right of Muslims to move freely in Jos and environs.

“In conclusion, MURIC calls on the Federal Government (FG) to rise to its responsibility of protecting Fulanis and Muslims in the face of Berom threat. In particular, we demand the draining of those dangerous ponds around Jos metropolis since there is strong evidence that they are being used for criminal purposes. It is our strong suspicion that hundreds of dead bodies of Fulanis and Muslims have been dumped in the ponds. The time to do this is now and FG must not abdicate its responsibility. We call FG’s attention to Section 14 (2) (b) of the Constitution which says, ‘The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government’”.   

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)