25th August,
2023
PRESS RELEASE:
YOU
STOOD LOGIC ON ITS HEAD :
MURIC
REPLIES CHRISTIAN GROUP
A Christian group,
Christian Rights Nigeria (CRN), yesterday accused the Muslim Rights Concern
(MURIC) of being behind the rejection of 17 out of the 39 commissioner nominees
whose names were sent to the Lagos State House of Assembly for confirmation. But
MURIC has described the allegation as laughable, kindergarten and pedestrian.
The Muslim group advised its accusers to learn the difference between elected
posts and appointments.
MURIC's response was given
on Friday, 25th August, 2023 by its Executive Director, Professor Ishaq
Akintola.
He said :
"Our attention has
been drawn to the allegation of a Christian group, Christian Rights Nigeria
(CRN), that MURIC was responsible for the rejection of 17 of the 39
commissioner nominees whose names were sent to the Lagos State House of
Assembly for confirmation.
"According to CRN, the
lopsided list should remain as it was because there are more Muslims in the
House of Assembly than Christians, that the same is the situation among the 57 local
government chairmen in the state while all the three senators representing Lagos
are Muslims (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/08/stop-religious-politics-christian-group-tackles-muric-over-lagos-assembly-decision-to-reject-commissioner-nominees/).
"The arguments of CRN
are laughable, kindergarten, pedestrian and prebendalist. It is jejune for the
Christian group to rationalise Governor Sanwo-Olu's ratio 31:8 lopsided list in
favour of Christians by referring to the larger number of Muslims in the Lagos
House of Assembly, the majority Muslim chairmen of local governments
and the three Muslim senators representing
Lagos. CRN’s arguments stand logic on its head.
"These are simply
evidence of the larger Muslim population in Lagos when compared to that of
Christians. It further indicts Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu who ignored this
demographic reality when he deliberately but heavily tilted the list in favour
of the minority Christian population. Sanwo-Olu called for it. He woke the
sleeping giant.
"We
are hugely amused at the show of infantility on the part of the Christian group
which appeared determined to equate political appointment with elective post.
Appointment is different from election. Or did Governor Sanwo-Olu appoint the
40 members in the Lagos House of Assembly? Did he single-handedly empanel the 57
local government chairmen? Was he the one who handpicked the three Muslim
senators?
"Commissioners
are appointed, not elected. They are appointed, ceteris paribus, by the
governor acting alone or in concert with some political influencers. This is
why commissioners are not the vox populi. On the contrary, lawmakers are
elected by the people. They are the people's representatives.
"It is therefore naive and a manifestation of juvenile
innocence on the part of the Christian group to blame Muslims for having more
Muslim lawmakers in the House than Christians. It is simply a reflection of the
true numerical status of Muslims and the population distribution between
Muslims and Christians in Lagos State. Those members were elected. They are the
choices of the people. There is no scintilla of doubt that CRN has based
its position on the peripheral and totally
ignored the tangential. It will not fly.
"Only one man, the
governor, picked appointed commissioners and by so doing, he sought to put
asunder what democracy had put together. It was an attempt to get by the bends
what Lagos Christians could not get by the straight. Muslims got the higher
number of lawmakers by exercising their franchise and that is their Allah-given
fundamental human right. Nobody can take that from them.
“It
must be noted that the Muslim lawmakers who are the majority in the Lagos House
of Assembly today are not nincompoops. They also got to the House by dint of
hard work, credibility and pedigree. On the contrary the Christian governor attempted
to confer an entitlement mentality on Lagos Christians that is not based on
merit or any acceptable parameter either by national or global rating.
"We contend that it is
not right for just one man to overturn a perceived lower number of elected representatives
with just a stroke of the pen. It is autocratic, authoritative and
totalitarian. Hitler of Germany, Mussolini of Italy and Lenin of communist
Russia must have turned in their graves over Governor Sanwo-Olu’s unfair,
unjust and undemocratic disposition.
"Instead of blaming MURIC
for the failure of Lagos Christians to smuggle a Christian cabinet through the
backdoor, we advise the Christian group, CRN, to go back home and learn the
ropes."
#ChristianRightsGrowUp
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Executive Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC).
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