23rd February, 2024
PRESS RELEASE:
ARRANT NONSENSE: MURIC
REPLIES MAN WHO SAID REMI TINUBU SHOULD BE KILLED
A video emerged today
Friday, 23rd February, 2024 in which a man dressed like an Islamic
scholar was calling for the killing of Nigeria's First Lady and wife of
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the basis of her being a Christian and a
pastor.
However, an Islamic human
rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has disowned the man in
the video. The organization said his teachings are misleading, his claims are
false while his identity is spurious and ambiguous. He is not known as an
Islamic scholar. The group therefore appealed to the First Family and the rest
of Nigerians to ignore him.
Akintola said :
"In a video clip that
went viral today, Friday 23rd February, 2024, a man who dressed like an Islamic
scholar was seen calling for the killing of Nigeria's First Lady and wife of
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the basis of her being a Christian and a
pastor.
"We hereby declare the
video clip as arrant nonsense, arbitrary, absurd and a product of misguidance,
misinformation and maradonised religiousity. It is saddening, most
unfortunate. It is not impossible that this is a product of political
machination with malicious intent to cause mayhem.
“He is definitely not an
Islamic scholar. His spoken words indicate that he knows next to nothing about
Islam. We are constrained to write him off as a mere rabble-rouser. He is
either an agent of those whose sole aim is to destabilise the country, an
attention seeker or an eminently qualified tenant for a psychiatric home.
“This man’s teachings are
misleading, his claims are false while his identity is spurious and ambiguous. He
is not known as an Islamic scholar. We therefore appeal to the First Family and
the rest of Nigerians to ignore him while Muslim leaders in the North try to
identify him with a view to guiding him properly.
“All efforts made by MURIC
to identify the man failed so far because he is neither popular nor is he a
known Islamic scholar. One of the leaders of MURIC in the North said, ‘I have
watched and listened to the man and of all the popular Islamic scholars in the
north, this is the first time I am coming across this man.
“The MURIC leader added, ‘From
his accent, he is a Sokoto or Kebbi man and our MURIC Sokoto or Kebbi should be
able to identify him. Definitely this man lacks knowledge in Islam, he holds an
extremist view and should therefore be reported to the security agencies for
appropriate sanctions. These are the zealots who pushed the ignorant youths
into extremism and violence. He is not representing Islam and should therefore
be disowned and condemned’.
"Nothing in the
Glorious Qur'an, the Hadith and the Sunnah justifies the man's clangorous
diatribes against the First Lady. His claims are false, malicious, baseless and
therefore unacceptable by any standard whatsoever.
"The cleric's
pronouncement stands in contra-distinction to the true teachings of Islam which
promotes mutual cooperation between Muslims and their neighbors regardless of
differences in faith or ethnicity. The Qur’an forbids the killing of
innocent people even if they are not Muslims (Glorious Qur’an 5:32).
"The man failed to
provide any verse of the Qur'an, Hadith or Sunnah which supports his dubious claim.
He should therefore be ignored and his pronouncement regarded as the rantings
of a misguided person. At best, his pronouncement may be regarded as
politically motivated.
"Meanwhile we remind religious
leaders of the need to be careful with their pronouncements. Their followers
consider their statements as the gospel truth, even sometimes as commandments.
Reckless utterances from them are capable of causing social combustion the
outcome of which no one can fathom.
"For instance, the man's
thoughtless declaration in the video clip came at a time when the First Lady
had just paid a visit to Kano. She was there a week ago commissioning some
projects. What would have happened if the his provocative statement had come
two weeks earlier? What are the dimensions if she has to pay another visit to
any other northern state before 2027? Should we begin to have palpitations of
the heart?
"Whoever knows this man
should caution him. We declare, nonetheless, that his pronouncement does not
represent the view of the rest of the Ummah. To us, the First Lady, Mrs.
Oluremi Tinubu, is a pleasant woman, a good wife and a mother of all. She has
always comported herself with decorum, her language has always been parliamentary
while her demeanor has been graceful at all times.
"We assure the First
Lady and all members of the First Family of the love and solidarity of Nigerian
Muslims. We urge them to put this ugly incident behind them.
"We advise Islamic
scholars of Northern extraction to identify and call the man behind this
atrocious and horrendous video to order. We demand a retraction from him
because his declaration is capable of causing an implosion within the
Ummah.
"Finally, while
leaders and members of MURIC in the Northern states are making efforts to
identify the scholar in the video, we implore the security agencies to handle
the matter with utmost tact and professionalism taking full cognisance of the
present situation in the country and the pronouncements of certain dignitaries
from both the North and South."
#RemiTinubu
#VideoThreat
#FakeIslamicScholar
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Executive Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC).
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