ADVICE ON NEUTRALITY TO SECURITY AGENTS : MAKINDE LACKS SINCERITY – MURIC

 

20^th January, 2023

PRESS RELEASE:

ADVICE ON NEUTRALITY TO SECURITY AGENTS : MAKINDE LACKS SINCERITY – MURIC  

 

The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has advised the Nigerian security agencies to remain professional and neutral in the coming elections. The governor gave the advice at the grand finale of the 2023 Armed Forces Remembrance Day held at the Remembrance Arcade, Government House, Agodi, Ibadan.

 

 

But an Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has accused the governor of being insincere with the advice. In a statement issued on Friday, 20^th January, 2023, the director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola, accused the governor of using men of the Oyo State arm of the Department of Security Services (DSS) to harass him.

 

The statement reads :

 

“The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has advised the Nigerian security agencies to remain professional and neutral in the coming elections. The governor gave the advice at the grand finale of the 2023 Armed Forces Remembrance Day held at the Remembrance Arcade, Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, on Monday, 16^th January, 2023 (https://leadership.ng/2023-polls-makinde-urges-security-agencies-to-be-neutral/).

 

 

“It is ironical that the same governor who sent the Oyo State branch of the Department of State Services (DSS) after the director of MURIC for criticizing him is admonishing the security agencies to be neutral during the coming elections. Wonders will never end.

 

 

“We take Makinde’s advice with a pinch of salt. This is not the time to take the message and ignore the messenger. The message originated from a most improper source. Makinde does not walk his talk.

 

 

“MURIC issued a statement on Monday, 12^th December, 2022 in which we criticized Makinde for condoning the repression of Muslim students in Oyo State schools and for doing nothing while Allah-given fundamental human rights of Muslim students and teachers were being encroached upon.

 

 

“Somebody who claimed to be calling from the office of Oyo State DSS called the director of MURIC three days later on Thursday, 15^th December, 2022 and asked him to report at the DSS Ibadan office for interrogation. It was not difficult to tie the invitation to our criticism of Makinde.

 

 

“Of course, MURIC’s director has not honoured the invitation because it was nebulous and informal. Anybody could have made that call and it is dangerous particularly in present day Nigeria where people are being kidnapped daily. A public figure should not just move around carelessly in such circumstance.

 

 

“MURIC has also continued its day-to-day activities as if nothing has happened. This is in compliance with the advice of Harriet Tubman to activists, ‘If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there's shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.’

 

 

“The Ogun State branch of MURIC immediately issued a statement asking Oyo State DSS to send a written invitation if indeed that phone call actually came from its office. There has been no response since then. The statement from Ogun branch was quickly followed by those of Osun, Oyo and Abuja branches.

 

 

“The Concerned Yoruba Muslim Scholars (CONYOM) crowned the edifice with a warning given at a press conference held at Oja Oba Central Mosque, Ibadan. CONYOM expressed absolute solidarity with the director of MURIC.

 

 

“Makinde’s attempt to use the DSS of his state to intimidate MURIC makes it difficult for us to believe that he is being sincere with his advice on the need for the security agencies to be neutral. Makinde’s statement must be interrogated.

 

 

“Will powerful people like Makinde allow security agents to be neutral even if they want to? The DSS invitation to the director of MURIC is a case in point. There was an obvious attempt to intimidate a human rights group for criticizing Governor Makinde.

 

 

“What warranted the invitation? There has been no threat issued by MURIC against Makinde. The group had not organized a public protest in Oyo State. Neither was it planning one. Why was the leader invited by DSS to come all the way from Lagos to Ibadan?

 

 

“We remind the governor that Nigeria is a democracy and Oyo State has not been proclaimed a military enclave headed by a ‘Field Marshal’ Seyi Makinde. Oyo State government is not a military regime and Seyi Makinde is not a military governor. He should know his limits in a democratic setting.

 

 

“Besides, freedom of speech is guaranteed in Section 39(i) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which says, ‘Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference’.

 

 

“We understand the issues at stake here. The director of MURIC had to be invited because the governor wanted him incapacitated or held incommunicado particularly for the election period which is critical to a governor seeking a second term. The governor may have the DSS boss transferred if he refused to play ball.

 

 

“Without sounding immodest, what they failed to take into consideration is the fact that they were dealing with a human rights group that knows its onions. The director of MURIC was a member of the Campaign for Democracy (CD) which confronted the military dictators for the actualization of June 12, 1993 presidential election. He was trained by the late Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti, the legendary human rights activist, from 1993 to 1999.

 

 

“Governor Makinde cannot be trusted on security matters. He is ready to flex muscles unnecessarily and illegally. He will abuse the power given to him by the good people of Oyo State at the drop of a hat. He will embarrass the security agencies by making irrational requests and ordering arbitrary arrests.

 

 

“Makinde is yet to comment on our allegation that he sent the DSS Oyo branch after our director. No affirmation, no denial. Silence, absolute silence. It is the style of totalitarian dictators. What if Makinde is in control of Nigeria as a whole? What if he is given absolute power which is bound to corrupt him absolutely?

 

 

“’Man, proud man’, says William Shakespeare in Measure For Measure, ‘Dress'd in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd—His glassy essence—like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens, Would all themselves laugh mortal.’

 

 

“MURIC understands the position of the DSS, Oyo State branch. The DSS is a highly professional and disciplined security agency and men of Oyo State branch are also men of honour.

 

 

“But the situation in which they found themselves can be likened to that of the ‘emese’ (i.e. palace messenger) whom the king himself sent on an errand but whose path was blocked by Odo Oba (a big river near Iwo, Osun State). He could neither jump into the river nor refuse to deliver the king’s message. He is faced by a monumental dilemma. To go forward or to go back? That is the question.

 

 

“We have nothing against any security agency in Nigeria, including the DSS, particularly, the Oyo State branch. We know their worth and we know they have sacrificed a lot, including their personnels’ lives. It is influential people like Makinde who wish to compromise them for personal gains.

 

 

“To this end, we have instructed our lawyer to withdraw the case for the enforcement of our director’s fundamental human rights which was filed at the High Court, Ibadan, by the Oyo State chapter of MURIC against the DSS Oyo State branch about three weeks ago. It was a mere pre-emptive measure.

 

 

“We advise security agents to handle instructions from state actors with wisdom and a high sense of patriotism. They should place Nigeria above any individual no matter how highly placed. It is high time they realized that there are ‘unlawful orders’ just as there are ‘lawful instructions’. Our golden advice to the security agencies is this: Do not allow any government official to use you for illegal actions. This is an advice Governor Seyi Makinde will not give you”

 

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director, 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

 

MURIC SLAMS DINO MELAYE ON TINUBU NOT BEING A MUSLIM

 

18^th January, 2023

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC SLAMS DINO MELAYE ON TINUBU NOT BEING A MUSLIM   

 

The spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Management Committee (PCC), Senator Dino Melaye, has said Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 election, is not a Muslim. Dino Melaye also described the APC candidate as ‘an emergency Muslim’ and asked the electorate to vote against him in next month’s election.

 

 

Meanwhile an Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has fired back at Dino Melaye. The group argued that Melaye had no moral right to question Tinubu’s level of faith.

 

 

MURIC’s reaction was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday 18^th January, 2023 by the director of the organisation, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

 

The statement reads :

 

“Senator Dino Melaye, the spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Committee (PCC), has said the presidential flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 election, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is not a Muslim.

 

 

“Dino Melaye also described the APC candidate as ‘an emergency Muslim’ and asked the electorate to vote against him in next month’s election (https://barristerng.com/2023-tinubu-not-a-muslim-dino-melaye-opens-up/).

 

 

“We are astonished by Dino Melaye’s statement. To say the least, it is false, baseless and unfounded. It is a product of oral diarrhea. It is also an intrusion into Muslim affairs by a non-Muslim who does not enter the mosque with us. It is therefore provocative, preposterous and ill-advised.

 

 

“Dino Melaye is not qualified to utter such a statement. The last time we checked, Dino was busy climbing trees. There is no record of his ever attending a madrasah (Quranic school) talk less of being an Islamic scholar. Can he therefore tell us when Tinubu came to him to learn Surat al-Fatihah which he claimed Tinubu does not know? Is he Tinubu’s Alfa?

 

 

“Dino comes across as a meddlesome interloper and a confusionist who, faced by an eminently qualified and indubitably superior opposition candidate, clings at straws in a desperate search for foul means to demonise this primus inter pareil presidential material called Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

 

 

“He knows very well that Tinubu is the numero uno among all the presidential candidates for the 2023 elections. Dino is currently frustrated because he is aware that Tinubu is the doyen of Nigerian Muslims and their choice for the presidency despite the fact that his principal, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is also a Muslim.

 

 

“This is where Dino is going. His message was meant to be digested by Nigerian Muslims. That is why it is MURIC’s business to tackle him. He appears to be saying, ‘Drop Tinubu. He is not Muslim enough. Stop following him. My principal is a better Muslim’.

 

 

“But Nigerian Muslims are not being parochial. They did not pick Tinubu because he is a Muslim. They picked him because of his pedigree. They picked him because they know that he is capable of managing the Nigerian economy in this turbulent world just as he did in Lagos State when the going got rough.  

 

 

“Melaye has failed, however. We know Tinubu is not a Shaykh or an Islamic scholar. Not every Muslim must be an Islamic scholar anyway. It is enough for us that he is a Muslim. We are also aware that only a tolerant Muslim can unite Nigeria in its present condition and Tinubu happens to be the round peg in the round hole.

 

 

“Why should that be a problem for Dino? Why is he taking panadol for our perceived headache? Dino should realise that he cannot weaken the resolve of Nigerian Muslims to support Tinubu.

 

 

“A similar smear campaign was engineered when Tinubu sat on a chair during salat (prayer) inside a mosque. It is only ignoramuses that can criticize a Muslim for using a chair during salat. It is a common practice even in Makkah and Madinah. It is Shariah-compliant.

 

 

“Muslims who have knee problems are allowed to sit on chairs during Salat. Even the director of MURIC sits on a chair during Salat and he goes about with a foldable chair in his car boot. Dino’s tag of ‘emergency Muslim’ for Tinubu holds no water. It is a misnomer. Tinubu is not a convert. So what necessitated that label?

 

 

“Neither is Tinubu homo sapien incognito to the Muslims of Lagos, nay, the whole of Yorubaland. We can also confirm that Tinubu is the most popular and most loved Southern Muslim in the North. We assert clearly, categorically and unequivocally that Tinubu is a bona fide Muslim. Dino Melaye should shut up.

 

 

 

 

“Dino is wasting his time if he asks Muslims to vote against Tinubu in the next election. We are not surprised anyway. A man who spent 11 hours on tree top must have a flair either for time-wasting or for authoring the other version of truth (https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/278204-how-i-spent-11-hours-on-tree-top-to-escape-abduction-dino-melaye.html#:~:text=How%20I%20spent%2011%20hours%20on%20treetop%20to%20escape%20abduction%20%E2%80%94%20Dino%20Melaye).

 

 

“Dino Melaye is behaving to type because we are aware that Christians are in the habit of telling Southern Muslims that Northern Muslims would not pray behind a Southern Imam. Only a fool will not know the motive behind such gimmick. Of course it is divide et impera.

 

 

“Otherwise why should it be the business of a Christian to raise such alarm? Christians may love Muslims and vice versa, but when did Christians start loving Muslims more than themselves? They are merely keen on dividing Muslims but eager to solidarise with fellow Christians in the North, the Middle Belt and the South East. They ask us to abandon Northern Muslims but they stick to Northern and South Eastern Christians. How logical is that?

 

 

“Even their claim that Northern Muslims will not pray behind Southern Imams is false because the reverse is what we see inside mosques in the South. We see Northern Muslims praying behind Southern Imams everyday in Lagos, Ibadan, Akure, Oshogbo, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Abuja, etc. That stunt has failed because Muslims North and South are still united and they stand in solidarity with Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima in a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

 

 

“We will continue to manifest love and friendship towards those Christians North and South of Nigeria who respect Allah-given fundamental human rights of Muslims. At the right time, we will respect the right of those who respect our right to brandish a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

 

 

“We advise Dino to turn his attention to other useful things. Nigerian Muslims are determined to bring Tinubu to power. We need Tinubu to reenact the Midas touch demonstrated in Lagos. We have seen Lagos and we crave Lagos. But only Lagosians and those who have visited Lagos have tasted the fruits of Tinubu’s dividends. We are eager to see those dividends spread all over Nigeria.

 

 

“As we drop the anchor, we warn that no intruder should show us parameters for measuring Tinubu’s level of faith. Dino Melaye should leave that to the Muslims. Dino is not one of us. Therefore, he has no locus standi to question Tinubu’s level of faith as a Muslim. Our message to Dino Melaye is : Don’t go there at all, caveat emptor.”

 

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director, 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

 

ATTACKS, CRITICISM OF SECURITY AGENTS UNWARRANTED – MURIC

 

11^th January, 2023

PRESS RELEASE:

ATTACKS, CRITICISM OF SECURITY AGENTS UNWARRANTED – MURIC   

 

An Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has advised Nigerians to desist from attacking or criticising the country’s security agents. MURIC argued that Nigeria’s security agents are doing well at present. It further contended that almost all Nigerians are guilty of one crime or another. It said the security agents are fellow Nigerians and a people will get the type of security agents it deserves.

 

 

MURIC’s advice was given on Monday, 16^th January, 2023. The statement which was signed by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, reads :

 

“Recent extra-judicial killings have elicited anger and bitter criticism around the country, particularly those of Gafaru Buraimo and Barrister Bolanle Raheem who were killed on 7^th and 25^th December, 2022 respectively.

 

 

“While we can understand the cassu belli for criticisms of the police and other security agents, Nigerians have no raison d’etre for throwing caution to the winds while doing so. But particularly petrifying is the killing of security agents by insurrectionists and separatists.

 

 

“While we do not condone extra-judicial killings by security agents, we condemn attacks on the latter and their offices, vehicles and other infrastructure by unscrupulous elements. Such attacks constitute waste of tax payers money and expose innocent citizens to the whims and caprices of criminals who descend on them and their properties after ensuring that they had gotten rid of the police.

 

 

“The bitter criticisms, incitements and vitriolic vituperations on the police are like an ill wind that will do us no good. Nigerian policemen are not from Ghana. They are not from China. Neither are they from Mars. They are from within us. They are not to blame if they lack discipline and integrity. They are a reflection of who Nigerians are. It is simply because we, Nigerians in general, lack discipline and integrity except for very few. You cannot give what you don't have. 

 

“How many saints are in Nigeria today? The only ones that I know are taking 'wrong way' in traffic, our saints are throwing empty cans on the roads after drinking the contents, our angels are paying mercenaries to impersonate their children and wards in examination halls. We are demonising honest teachers among us and idolising corrupt politicians who sold our common patrimony for peanuts.

 

“We encourage materialistic propensities by endorsing programmes like ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire? By the way, who doesn’t want to be a millionaire? But must we make it a national anthem? That is why our teenagers are into ritual killing to become millionaires at 16. We reward indecency, vulgarity and lasciviousness by dashing out whole mansions and millions of naira to winners and participants in open sex programmes on television like Big Brother Naija.

 

“What then do you expect of your police? Did they descend straight from al-Jannah? They are overworked, underpaid and poorly armed. As far back as 1975, every policeman in Cairo had a pistol and a walkie-talkie. But in Nigeria only the DPO has a walkie-talkie. There is no encouragement. There is no welfare package. There is no insurance. 

 

 

“How can we blame the police for collecting bribe? They buy their uniforms by themselves. They buy their shoes. They are responsible for buying fuel into their official vehicles. Do we still expect them to use their meager salaries to do all these? These are the things which frustrate our policemen and make them misbehave sometimes. Things will not change until we address the plight of the police. Let us be realistic for once.

 

 

“Yet we claim that only the police is corrupt. We must put a stop to this sanctimony, this deceit, this hypocrisy. We are all involved. We are all guilty and we must come clean. Teachers collect bribe before admitting new students. Lecturers demand gratification of various kinds from their students. Market women raise the prices of goods if the buyer comes in a big car.

 

 

“We are all corrupt except for an infinitesimal few. We can change the narrative by admitting our guilt and by pledging to turn a new leaf, not by blaming the police alone. These attacks on and criticisms of the police are unwarranted. Our attitude is even worse particularly now that the security agencies are achieving victory after victory. They are rescuing hundreds of kidnap victims and giving terrorists the blue nose but we hypocritically turn the blind eye. No words of encouragement, nothing. We are a nation of ingrates.”

 

 

“Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director, 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)