AMOTEKUN: MURIC DEMANDS TRANSPARENCY, FAIRNESS

30^th January, 2020

          

PRESS RELEASE:

AMOTEKUN: MURIC DEMANDS TRANSPARENCY, FAIRNESS

The governor of Ondo State and chairman of South West Governors Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu, yesterday announced that recruitment into the region’s joint security outfit, Operation Amotekun, will begin soon. Although he was silent on the take-off date and the modalities, he affirmed that those recruited will be trained by security experts. The governor had announced a week ago that the idea of establishing a centralized operational command center in Gbongan had been dropped (https://www.rockcityfmradio.com/recruitment-into-amotekun-to-begin-akeredolu/).

In a swift reaction, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has advised the governor to ensure transparency and fairness in the recruitment exercise. This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday, 30^th January, 2020 by the director of the human rights organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

According to MURIC, “There are positive signals emerging from the Amotekun camp. We have seen that the initial haste to form a regional security unit has been reduced. They are sitting down to map out strategies. At the same time, they are putting together a legal framework to legalize the initiative. These are good steps and they were part of the areas of our initial concern.

“What we need to stress is the need for the exercise to be fair, transparent and devoid of religious bias and ethnic witch-hunting. Muslims will join the security network once there is assurance of fairness and transparency. We therefore call on Muslim youths in the region to start warming up for the recruitment exercise. They should collect forms, fill, submit and wait for further instructions. However, we demand transparency in the recruitment exercise. This can best be done by publishing lists of all fresh recruitments from time to time.

“Muslims who form majority of the region’s population cannot afford to leave the security network to adherents of other faiths alone. It is part of our responsibility to our communities. Besides, joining the outfit will enhance economic empowerment. We therefore urge Muslims in the region not to boycott the security outfit. Muslims should not allow other groups to monopolise it.

“It is true that we are contending the nomenclature and this is for good reason. But while the debate rages, Muslim youths seeking employment should seize the opportunity to join the race. All other matters can be resolved later. The law courts are there for us if we feel seriously aggrieved. But Muslims must not resort to violence over this matter. Afterall we all agree that we need to complement existing security architecture. We only disagreed on the name and methodology. Let the recruitment begin.

“We are all aware of the crucial role played by the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) particularly during those terrible years when armed robbers took over every night and the booming of guns enveloped the darkness. It was OPC in conjunction with the police that brought the situation under control. It is noteworthy that Muslims form the majority of members of OPC and MURIC enjoyed cordial relations with the Yoruba group. Even the late OPC leader, Dr. Frederick Fasheun, delivered a lecture at a seminar tagged Peaceful Co-existence in a Multi-religious Nigeria organised by MURIC. The seminar was held at the Conference Center of the University of Lagos on 9^th August, 2007. The records are there for those in search of the truth.

“Among the positive signals reaching us from the Amotekun camp is the unofficial but reliable information that there are Muslims among the 7-man management team in one of the South West states. The government of the state of Osun has also declared that the operation is not designed to sideline Muslims. These revelations have informed our current stand on the issue. Islam teaches us not to deceive people. We must say it as it is: no deliberate misinformation, no deception, no playing to the gallery. We shall be held accountable for our statements and actions yawm al-Qiyamah (the Day of Ressurection).

“Nonetheless, we frown at attempts to armtwist opponents of the Amotekun project by overzealous propagators of the idea. We condemn the use of threats and blackmail. A faceless group was even concocted to smear the integrity of MURIC leadership. Such dirty methods can never deter MURIC from speaking up when issues of Allah-given fundamental rights of Muslims are at stake.

“To round off, we welcome the new positive developments in the South West security network. We call for transparency, fairness and objectivity in the recruitment exercise which will begin soon. We charge Muslim youths to participate in recruitments into their state’s security outfits. We condemn the death threat, incitements, blackmail and name-calling launched at the MURIC leadership and declare them as mere distractions that are of no consequence whatsoever.”  

Professor Ishaq Akintola,    

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

AMOTEKUN: MURIC DEMANDS TRANSPARENCY, FAIRNESS

30^th January, 2020

          

PRESS RELEASE:

AMOTEKUN: MURIC DEMANDS TRANSPARENCY, FAIRNESS

The governor of Ondo State and chairman of South West Governors Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu, yesterday announced that recruitment into the region’s joint security outfit, Operation Amotekun, will begin soon. Although he was silent on the take-off date and the modalities, he affirmed that those recruited will be trained by security experts. The governor had announced a week ago that the idea of establishing a centralized operational command center in Gbongan had been dropped (https://www.rockcityfmradio.com/recruitment-into-amotekun-to-begin-akeredolu/).

In a swift reaction, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has advised the governor to ensure transparency and fairness in the recruitment exercise. This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday, 30^th January, 2020 by the director of the human rights organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

According to MURIC, “There are positive signals emerging from the Amotekun camp. We have seen that the initial haste to form a regional security unit has been reduced. They are sitting down to map out strategies. At the same time, they are putting together a legal framework to legalize the initiative. These are good steps and they were part of the areas of our initial concern.

“What we need to stress is the need for the exercise to be fair, transparent and devoid of religious bias and ethnic witch-hunting. Muslims will join the security network once there is assurance of fairness and transparency. We therefore call on Muslim youths in the region to start warming up for the recruitment exercise. They should collect forms, fill, submit and wait for further instructions. However, we demand transparency in the recruitment exercise. This can best be done by publishing lists of all fresh recruitments from time to time.

“Muslims who form majority of the region’s population cannot afford to leave the security network to adherents of other faiths alone. It is part of our responsibility to our communities. Besides, joining the outfit will enhance economic empowerment. We therefore urge Muslims in the region not to boycott the security outfit. Muslims should not allow other groups to monopolise it.

“It is true that we are contending the nomenclature and this is for good reason. But while the debate rages, Muslim youths seeking employment should seize the opportunity to join the race. All other matters can be resolved later. The law courts are there for us if we feel seriously aggrieved. But Muslims must not resort to violence over this matter. Afterall we all agree that we need to complement existing security architecture. We only disagreed on the name and methodology. Let the recruitment begin.

“We are all aware of the crucial role played by the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) particularly during those terrible years when armed robbers took over every night and the booming of guns enveloped the darkness. It was OPC in conjunction with the police that brought the situation under control. It is noteworthy that Muslims form the majority of members of OPC and MURIC enjoyed cordial relations with the Yoruba group. Even the late OPC leader, Dr. Frederick Fasheun, delivered a lecture at a seminar tagged Peaceful Co-existence in a Multi-religious Nigeria organised by MURIC. The seminar was held at the Conference Center of the University of Lagos on 9^th August, 2007. The records are there for those in search of the truth.

“Among the positive signals reaching us from the Amotekun camp is the unofficial but reliable information that there are Muslims among the 7-man management team in one of the South West states. The government of the state of Osun has also declared that the operation is not designed to sideline Muslims. These revelations have informed our current stand on the issue. Islam teaches us not to deceive people. We must say it as it is: no deliberate misinformation, no deception, no playing to the gallery. We shall be held accountable for our statements and actions yawm al-Qiyamah (the Day of Ressurection).

“Nonetheless, we frown at attempts to armtwist opponents of the Amotekun project by overzealous propagators of the idea. We condemn the use of threats and blackmail. A faceless group was even concocted to smear the integrity of MURIC leadership. Such dirty methods can never deter MURIC from speaking up when issues of Allah-given fundamental rights of Muslims are at stake.

“To round off, we welcome the new positive developments in the South West security network. We call for transparency, fairness and objectivity in the recruitment exercise which will begin soon. We charge Muslim youths to participate in recruitments into their state’s security outfits. We condemn the death threat, incitements, blackmail and name-calling launched at the MURIC leadership and declare them as mere distractions that are of no consequence whatsoever.”  

Professor Ishaq Akintola,    

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

ARREST, PROSECUTE THOSE WHO THREATENED AKINTOLA

28^th January 2020

          

PRESS RELEASE:

ARREST, PROSECUTE THOSE WHO THREATENED AKINTOLA

A twitter handler directed a death threat to the director and founder of our Islamic human rights organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola, about a week ago. He wrote a chilling comment on Professor Akintola’s picture and posted it. The post was, in turn, screenshot from the Whatshap status of a contact who identified herself as Tosin Elizabeth a.k.a ‘Hidee’ with telephone number 08163964812.

The death threat was issued under the caption, ‘THIS COBRA NEEDS TO BE KILLED’ and the exact words used were:

“There is one big COBRA we must kill, before it kills all of us with its venom. This MURIC man, Professor Ishaq Akintola, must be tamed, else he will succeed in destroying Yorubaland with venom from his religious stupidity. He sees, he talks and behaves like a big radical Taliban. He’s an agent of disunity, and must be called to order before it is too late.”

We, the chairmen of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) branches from the South West, specifically from Ekiti (Murician Qasim Salahudeen), Ogun (Murician Tajudeen Jimoh), Oyo (Murician Salahudeen Abdul Wasiu), Osun (Murician Marufdeen Odedeji), Ondo (Murician Abdul Ganiyu Maroof) and Lagos (Murician Shefiu Ayorinde) hereby totally and categorically condemn the death threat issued against Professor Ishaq Akintola, the director of our organization. 

This death threat is Satanic and provocative. It is capable of causing religious crisis not only in the South West but in Nigeria as a whole. Apart from revealing a desire to assassinate our director, it is also an incitement of the Yoruba people against the founder and director of our organisation. We insist that no harm must come to Professor Ishaq Lakin Akintola.

It is clear from the words used in the death threat that the brain behind the satanic message is a Yoruba person who feels aggrieved by MURIC’s stand on the Amotekun security outfit which the governors of the South West have proposed. For the avoidance of doubt, MURIC did not oppose the establishment of a security unit in Yorubaland so long as it is for better security. MURIC only opposed the way Muslims in the region have been sidelined in the arrangement. We reject the idea of collecting birth certificate from churches or letters of recommendation from pastors.

Is that why our leader must be killed? Is that why Akintola became your first target? Is there no freedom of speech in this country? Are we not in a democracy? Is this how you want to treat Muslims after establishing Amotekun? We are certain that your intention is to turn Amotekun to a terror machine. You want to train assassins for eliminating Muslim leaders one by one.

Yoruba Muslims have the right to speak freely. We are in the land of our ancestors. We are not foreigners. Nobody can expel us from the land of Oduduwa. We will continue to exercise our fundamental human rights without fear while we remain peaceful and law abiding. We are willing to live peacefully with our neighbours whether they are Christians, traditionalists or atheists. The Nigerian Constitution accommodates all faiths. We are even ready to join the new security outfits in our different states once the religious bias is removed and the legal technicalities are resolved. But no true Muslim will give his or her blessing to a security organization which begins by showing anti-Muslim bias and targeting our Muslim brothers in the North.

For the sake of clarity, we affirm that MURIC is a peace-loving organization and our motto is ‘Dialogue, Not Violence’. Incidentally, our leader, Professor Akintola, is also a peace-loving man. He has never engaged in violence or supported any violent group. He has always condemned Boko Haram and promoted peaceful coexistence among the adherents of different faiths. Akintola is also an anti-corruption jihadist.

The implications of attacking the director of MURIC will have far-reaching effect because MURIC is not about one man. Its membership spreads beyond the South West to the North. Those who have been used to persecuting the Muslims while the same oppressors shout to high heaven without anybody challenging them now see him as a threat because he has challenged the status quo and changed the narrative.

Already, there is tension among the Muslims over the threat to Akintola and the Nigerian Council for Shariah (South West zone) issued a statement on the threat on Sunday, 27^th January, 2020. Therefore, anybody planning to attack such a man is planning to plunge Nigeria into another crisis.

We wish to warn those behind the death threat against Akintola to know what they are up against. Think well before you act. Akintola is the voice of the voiceless Muslims in Nigeria and he is recognized as such throughout the length and breadth of the country. You cannot attack such a person and get away with it so easily. Don’t cause trouble in Nigeria.

This January 2020 alone, Akintola emerged as Number 4 Most Important Muslim in Nigeria for year 2019. This was the outcome of a public ranking conducted by a Nigerian newspaper. Also in 2019, our director and founder was turbaned the ‘Lion of Islam’ (Kinniun Adinni) by the League of Imams, Ikotun, Lagos State. We all know what it means for hundreds of Imams to unanimously agree to give such a title to an Islamic scholar. We do not need to remind those threatening to kill our director that the lion is the king of all animals, including the leopard (amotekun). What do you think will happen if the leopard attempts to launch an attack on the lion?

In conclusion, we hereby call upon the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Department of State Security (DSS) to unmask, apprehend and prosecute those who threatened Professor Ishaq Akintola and to provide adequate protection for him. Professor Akintola is a tax payer and deserves to be well protected. We believe that the security agencies will understand the enormity of the issue and realise that it is a matter of national interest. We affirm that Allah is the best protector and the Most Merciful (Glorious Qur’an 12:64). We also restate our full confidence in the ability of the Nigerian security agencies to get to the bottom of the matter, particularly with the lead provided above as the person on whose status the threat was screenshot (Tosin Elizabeth a.k.a ‘Hidee’, telephone number 08163964812).

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

1.  Murician Qasim Salahudeen

          Chairman, MURIC, Ekiti Chapter

2.  Murician Salahudeen Abdul Wasiu

Ag. Chairman, MURIC, Oyo Chapter

3.  Murician Marufdeen Odedeji

Chairman, MURIC, Oshun Chapter

4.  Murician Tajudeen Jimoh

Chairman, MURIC, Ogun Chapter

5.  Murician Ganiyu Maroof

Chairman, MURIC, Ondo Chapter

6.  Murician Shefiu Ayorinde,

Chairman, Lagos Chapter

LET AMOTEKUN EMBRACE ALL

27^th January 2020

          

PRESS RELEASE:

LET AMOTEKUN EMBRACE ALL

Sequel to the resolution of the governors of the South West to give a legal backing to the Amotekun security outfit, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called on the governors of the South West to allow the re-branded security agency to embrace all citizens living in the sub-region. MURIC also advised that the new security organization should not lean towards any religion or target any ethnic group for victimization.

The call was made on Monday 27^th January, 2020 in a press statement issued by the director of the human rights organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

The statement further added:

“No homo sapien compos mentis living in Yorubaland will oppose the setting up of a security outfit to complement the existing security agencies on ground (the army, police, NNDC, DSS, etc). We all want lives and properties secured all over Nigeria. That is why people living on every street have security arrangements in place while some individuals also have both day and night guards in their private offices and homes.

“It is therefore mischievous to give the impression that Muslims are against the South West security initiative. No reasonable Nigerian today will frown at attempts to boost security in any part of the country. What we oppose is the religious and ethnic tinge which the handlers gave Amotekun.

“You cannot blame Muslims for crying out when you ask them to bring birth certificates from churches before joining Amotekun. Neither can you expect them to stand akimbo when you tell them to bring letters of recommendation from churches. Muslims in the Yoruba enclave are not opposing Amotekun per se. What they oppose is a situation where a ostensibly anti-Islam security outfit comes into operation in Yorubaland.

“Apart from the reference to birth certificates from churches and letters of reference from pastors, the choice of nomenclature is another controversial issue because it has a strong Christian identity. Why ‘Amotekun’ as a name for crying out loud? Research has revealed the biblical origin of this name and it makes Muslims suspicious. Why Amotekun of all brands?

“Jeremiah 5:6 says, ‘A leopard shall guard over their city’. Amotekun is mentioned in this verse with particular reference to guarding a city. Now, we have a sub-region where Muslims have been under persecution for ages coming up with a security outfit under the name of the same leopard mentioned in the bible as a guard over the city. This is not a coincidence. The handlers of Amotekun picked the name deliberately from the bible in order to score a spiritual point. It is very critical. It calls for serious concern. So why give a security unit a religious name?

“We advise the planners of the new security outfit to give it another name in the interest of peace and harmony in the sub-region. This is necessary if they want to carry all stakeholders along. Amotekun as a name is already controversial. We do not need a Christian security unit. Neither do we need a Muslim security outfit. The security agency in the South West must not only be neutral, it must also be seen to be neutral.

“We affirm that Muslims form the majority in the population of the South West. They are therefore critical stakeholders and the unity of the Yoruba cannot become fait accompli without involving the Muslims in the sub-region. Muslims must be carried along in any security network in the zone. We are interested in security. We are security conscious. We will therefore join a South West security initiative if it is not tainted with Christian landmarks. We will have confidence in a security outfit that involves Muslim leaders, not one that parades pastors, bishops and archbishops alone.

“It must also be noted that a security group that starts with subtle threats to our brethren in faith in another part of the country cannot be safe for Muslims in Yorubaland. There is no racism or tribalism in Islam (Qur’an 49:13). It is a global brotherhood. Yoruba Muslims love Yorubaland. They also love Nigeria. But they owe their Creator, Allah, an unflinching and undiluted love towards their brothers and sisters in Islam no matter their race, tribe or colour. From Allah we came and unto Allah we shall return. On that Day, nobody will be judged on the basis of his tribe but on the basis of his deeds on earth. Nonetheless, we believe in a united Nigeria and we will support a security unit that constitutes no threat to any tribe in the country, be it Igbo, Fulani, Ijaw, or Tiv.  

                                              

“However, the latest assurance coming from certain quarters that birth certificates from churches and letters of reference from pastors was not part of the original pre-requisites is most welcome. MURIC will support any security arrangement anywhere in Nigeria so long as such arrangement is devoid of gymnastic religiousity and acrobatic ethnicity.

“In addition, the organisers of Amotekun must desist from attempts to intimidate perceived opponents of the scheme. Leaders of the group must caution their foot-soldiers against excesses. They must distance themselves from arm-twisting gimmicks like deliberately misinterpreting statements made by people who oppose the Amotekun idea.

“For instance, MURIC has very strong evidence that some elements in the Amotekun camp have issued death threats to its leader. That is unacceptable. It is an attempt to silence opposition. All opinions must be allowed in a democracy. That is freedom of speech. Those who attempt to muzzle opinions give the impression that they have hidden agenda. It presupposes that the Amotekun security project will be biased and unprofessional when it finally comes on board. We refuse to be intimidated. It changes nothing in our stand and style of advocacy.

“In a nutshell, as the organisers deliberate on the legal framework to back the complementary security project in the South West, we advise that such legal framework includes a clause that lays emphasis on religious neutrality, security for all citizens residing in Yorubaland regardless of their ethnic background and a new name which is acceptable to all faiths.”   

Professor Ishaq Akintola,    

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)