16th April, 2024
PRESS RELEASE:
2027: LAGOS MUSLIMS YEARN FOR THEIR OWN
- MURIC
Muslims in Lagos
State are yearning for one of their own as governor come 2027. This was
disclosed by an Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern
(MURIC).
In a statement
circulated to pressmen on Tuesday, 16th April, 2024, the group's Executive
Director and Founder, Professor Ishaq Akintola, said any attempt to impose a
Christian governor on Lagos for a third time will be a violation of the rules
of fairness, equity, inclusivity and participatory democracy.
The full statement
reads:
"As Nigerian
politicians settle down for governance around the country, plans are also being
made for 2027. Already, new alliances are taking shape while profound
pronouncements that serve the interest of different groups are being
made.
"In order not
to be caught unawares, Muslims of Lagos State are setting the machinery in
motion to ensure that one of them, a fellow Muslim, emerges as governor in
2027.
"It is the only
path to sanity in the Lagos political architecture. The incumbent, Governor
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is a Christian. He took over from Akinwunmi Ambode, a
Christian, after the latter's second term ambition was truncated.
“In a metropolitan
and multi-religious state, it is only natural that Muslims will make this
demand at this point in time. It should be noted that the Christians of Lagos made
a similar demand in 2013 for a Christian to be governor. That was how Ambode
became governor in 2015.
"Instead of spending only one term to complete the
Christian occupation of Lagos government house, Sanwo-Olu went ahead for a
second term thereby shortchanging the Muslims. The Christians would have
spent a whole twelve years in government by 2027.
"Nobody should
come around this time ventilating the gospel of competence, the pre-eminence of
skill or the priority of talent. They are mere smokescreens designed to
hoodwink the public. Competence abounds everywhere. Nigerians, and indeed
Muslims, are highly skilled.
"No section of
Nigeria suffers from any desertification of competence. Muslims are talented
just as Christians are skilled. Competent people can be found in the North,
West and East. It is those in power who should sniff around well enough to
locate competent Nigerians. They should not concentrate on one religious
group or sector.
"It is an insult to the collective intelligence of
Nigerian Muslims to give appointments to Christians only with the excuse that
you have given those appointments to competent people. Let's not repeat that
again please. It is nauseating.
"It depends on
where you looked. It reflects the direction where you spread your
tentacles. To conduct a fair, objective and balanced search, leaders must
extend their dragnets to both Muslim and Christian individuals, professionals
and communities. That is fairness. Searches must be conscious of the need for
inclusiveness. So must the position of state governors.
"No group must
be seen to be enjoying the monopoly of power. Christians have been governors
for three solid terms (Ambode: 2015-2019; Sanwo-Olu: 2019-2027). It should
therefore be the turn of the Muslims in 2027.
"Any attempt to impose a Christian governor on Lagos
for a third time will break the rules of fairness, equity, inclusivity and
participatory democracy. It will also be an encroachment on Allah-given
fundamental rights of Lagos Muslims to participate in all aspects of governance
and to exercise their civils rights to vote and be voted for.
"We have not
said Ambode under-performed. No, he took Lagos to the next level in his own
time. Sanwo-Olu has also been doing wonders since 2019. But that is not the
point. True democracy does not hero-worship. Neither does it perpetuate or
concentrate power in one hand.
"That is why
elections are held every four years no matter how well the incumbent has
performed and his or her second mandate must end after the second term even if
he has performed magic.
"The Christians
must therefore step aside for their Muslim counterparts in Lagos by 2027 even
if Ambode and Sanwo-Olu have given helicopters to every single Lagosian, daily
lunch tickets at Sheraton to every civil servant and free train and bus rides
at all times on both the red and blue lines in the state of aquatic squalor.
"Let's stop
underrating and in the process marginalising Muslims in the political arena. We
can beat our chests that Professor Ishaq Oloyede is the best performing public
officer in Nigeria today. Somebody found him and it would not have happened if
he had not looked in the direction of the Muslims.
"Professor
Ibrahim Ali Isa Pantami would not have surfaced in the public sphere as a cyber
security genius if we had held tightly to the dogma of 'no talent among
Muslims'. Professor Babagana Zulum is generally accepted as the best performing
governor in Nigeria. He is a Muslim. There are many more hidden talents in the
Muslim camp.
"There is no
gainsaying the fact that any political party that picks Oloyede as its 2027
gubernatorial candidate in Ogun State is destined to win by a huge landslide.
Ditto for Pantami for Gombe State. The interesting side is that both are
Islamic scholars, not ordinary Muslims. Lagos Muslims have their own gems. Give
them equal opportunity as Ambode and Sanwo-Olu were given."
#Lagos2027
#Lagos2027ForMuslim
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Executive Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC).
