MURIC WARNS POLITICIANS: DONT DEMONISE ISLAM

9^th January, 2014

PRESS RELEASE:

WARNING TO POLITICIANS: DON’T DEMONISE ISLAM

The attention of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has been drawn to a statement credited to the spokesperson of Nigeria’s ruling party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in which he said that Nigeria’s main opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC) is an agenda for the Islamisation of Nigeria.      

This statement is unguarded, unprofessional, parochial and myopic. Such a statement is only to be heard from a man running diarrhea of the mouth. We challenge him to produce evidence. While we believe it is meant for a few gullible Nigerians, we have no doubt that majority of Nigerians will not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by self-serving politicians.

MURIC appeals to PDP mainstream to call its spokesperson to order. Religion is a very sensitive issue in this country and no political party should attempt to turn Islam into a pawn in its political chess game. We warn that any political party which attempts to drag the name of Islam into the murky waters of Nigerian politics will have the Muslims to contend with.

Instead of crying wolf where there is none, we advise PDP’s spokesman to engage in critical self-examination. PDP’s political woes are self-inflicted and they should blame none but themselves.

X-rayed with microscopic accuracy, PDP will find that the raison d’etre for its current dwindling fortunes are not unconnected with complacency, executive impunity, managerial ineptitude, moral bankruptcy, poverty of integrity among its leadership, etc, etc.

Above all, PDP must trace its present calamity to the arrogance of its political leadership and the failure of its ruling arrowhead to honour pledges. Even the Glorious Qur’an assures that “Those who break Allah’s covenants after it has been ratified, those who put asunder what Allah has ordered to be joined and those who do mischief on earth: these are the people who cause loss unto themselves” (Qur’an 2:27).

Nigerian politicians must know that the promise of Allah often starts its manifestation in this world. The Qur’an also affirms that men will be held accountable for their promises (Qur’an 17:34). This accountability may have begun in present-day Nigeria for some political parties and their leaders. All three signs of the hypocrite as enumerated by Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) in his hadith are now manifest in Nigeria’s leaders: lying, breaking their pledges and betraying trust.

The way forward for PDP leadership is to withdraw the fraudulent statement credited to its spokesman, apologise to Nigerian Muslims in particular and all Nigerians in general and seek Allah’s forgiveness.

Finally, we assure Nigerians that Muslims have no anointed political party. We are in all political parties (PDP, APC, Labour, PDM, APGA, etc) and we cannot afford to be partial or parochial. We wish all of them well. Our members voted for all political parties (including the PDP) and they will continue to vote for political parties of their inclination without being prompted from the minbar (mosque’s pulpit).

We are not interested in religious politics. Nonetheless, we cannot keep quiet in the face of the unwarranted, unprovoked, unsolicited, irrational and inexplicable statement credited to the PDP spokesman. 

APC as an Islamic agenda exists only in the figment of the imagination of dreamers who lack drive. We have no doubt that Allah is waiting for any political party or leader who seeks to persecute Muslims or to mock the religion of Islam. “Innah rabaka labilmirsaad”, i.e. Verily indeed your Lord is on the watch-tower (Qur’an 89:14).

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

08182119714

BOMB BLASTS IN RIVERS STATE: THREAT TO DEMOCRACY

7^th January, 2014

PRESS RELEASE:

BOMB BLASTS IN RIVERS STATE: THREAT TO DEMOCRACY

Ahoada East High Court was bombed and set ablaze yesterday by some hoodlums. The High Court was bombed shortly before a case against Hon. Evans Bipi was due to commence. The case which was to be heard by Justice Charles Wali is to seek an injunction seeking to restrain Hon. Bipi from parading himself as the speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is greatly alarmed by this brazen and barbaric attack on the judiciary. We recall that there had been two other bomb attacks earlier in the state. Unknown assailants had bombed the Office of the Deputy Governor of the same state on Tuesday 17^th December, 2013. 24 hours later, a second bomb exploded in the office of Justice Charles Wali around 3.00 pm.

The unfolding scenario is not only frightening but senseless and disgusting. Nigeria appears torn between fanatical religionists and extremist politicians.

Once again MURIC is constrained to warn the major dramatis personae in Nigeria’s turbulent political waters to go back to the terra firma of  reason before our ship of state gets drowned.

We appeal to all stakeholders to hold the fire. We call on elders, particularly all former heads of state, to seize the initiative of reconciling the warring parties in Rivers State. We also call on all men of goodwill to do whatever they can in dousing tension in Rivers State because whatever happens there is bound to ricochet throughout the country.

Finally, we remind the presidency that posterity will not fail to see its fingers in every pie fried in the politics of Rivers State. True statesmen care more about their country and care less about bruised ego.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

08182119714

FREE KANO SPEAKER & LEGISLATORS NOW

25^th December, 2013

PRESS RELEASE:

FREE KANO SPEAKER & LEGISLATORS NOW

The speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, Hon Gambo Sallau, clerk of the House and nine other legislators were yesterday arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). They were alleged to have fraudulently approved a supplementary budget of N28 billion.    

We are surprised at the newfound agility of EFCC who just a few days ago complained that it had less than N2 million in its account and therefore could not pursue its legitimate functions. Could it mean that the presidency had been deliberately stinting EFCC of funds in order to bring it to its knees and consequently compel it to do its beck and call? It just doesn’t add up. Where and how did EFCC suddenly find its lost appetite for pursuing allegedly corrupt legislators?

Or are we witnessing a conspiracy theory postulating a presidential pound of flesh? The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) finds it very curious that All Progressive Congress (APC) states are beginning to bear the brunt of EFCC’s sharp teeth. Lagos Assembly is already licking its wounds as EFCC operatives keep hounding its speaker and some of its members. Is it now the turn of Kano?

The witch cried yesterday and the child died today. The case is just too glaring. The fact that the five governors who defected to the APC chose Kano as the venue for the announcement of their defection makes EFCC’s descent on Kano more intriguing. Is Kano being punished for its audacity? If this is so, the noose must be tightening around the neck of the governor of Kano.

It had better not be. Politics of vindictiveness is capable of killing Nigeria’s nascent democracy. Napoleon Bonaparte was visionary when he said the only lesson men learn from history is that they learn nothing from history.

Why have our leaders failed to learn from the causes of military intervention in the politics of Nigeria? Why was the South-West called the Wild Wild West in the early 60s? What was the casus belli of ‘operation wet e’? Where are the tyrants of yesterday? Where is Hitler of Germany? Where is Mussolini of Italy? Where is Idi Amin Dada of Uganda?

The rulers of Nigeria today must decide whether they want their names printed in letters of gold or dumped in the dustbin of history. Divisional Police Officers now storm the venue where whole state governors are holding meetings simply because they belong to the opposition. It is infra dignitatem.

Policemen block governors from using roads and seal up opposition secretariats. Police chiefs withdraw security details of state chief executives and the opposition is not free to associate or hold meetings. Aircrafts used by opposition members are not allowed to use the Nigerian airspace. 

This government’s cup of sins is not only full, it is already spilling over. Civil society must rise now before it is too late. Both the church and the mosque must speak out against totalitarian dictatorship because their followers will all be affected by the consequences of bad governance if they fail to speak out now.

MURIC therefore urges religious leaders to abandon the traditional triangular orientation which takes the faithful from the mosque to work and back to the house. We must watch politicians and caution them when necessary because their actions or inactions, successes and failures, competence and ineptitude, tyranny or kind disposition is bound to affect all and sundry.

Bad governance is responsible for the darkness in Nigeria today: that is why there is no electricity. Executive ineptitude is to blame for the degradation in the education sector. That was why strike paralysed the universities for six months. Neither the church nor the mosque enjoys electricity today.

Both Christian and Muslim parents as well as their sons and daughters suffered tremendously from the strike that just ended. Religious leaders are therefore vital stakeholders. We must not remain silent in the face of oppression because what goes round comes around.

We also call on well-meaning Nigerians and elder statesmen not to sit on the fence. We charge the international community to start warning the Nigerian government concerning the threat to the rule of law, restrictions to freedom of movement and abuse of executive power.

Finally, MURIC calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the Kano legislators. EFCC must also drop its charges against Lagos legislators or table water-tight evidence against them if there is any in a court of law.

We are constrained to express palpable fear over the conduct of 2015 general elections. A government which stifles the opposition and witch-hunts defectors cannot be trusted to conduct a free and fair election.

The law establishing EFCC must also be amended to give the body full autonomy and freedom from intervention or influence from the presidency.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

08182119714

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

24^th December, 2013

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE:

CHRISTIANS & MUSLIMS MUST UNITE FOR PEACE & PROGRESS

Christians of many denominations all over the globe will tomorrow mark the birth of Jesus (Peace be upon him). To this end, the Federal Government of Nigeria has declared Wednesday 25^th and Thursday 26^th December, 2013 as holidays.

We of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) seize the opportunity of this august occasion to remind Nigerians of the high pedestal on which Jesus is placed in Islam. The Glorious Qur’an describes Jesus as a “righteous prophet (Qur’an 6:85) and he is “held in honour in this world and the hereafter and of those nearest to Allah” (3:45).

MURIC reaffirms its resolve to respect the rights of people of other faiths to observe their festivals and the attendant holidays without let or hinderance. We call for peaceful coexistence and dissociate ourselves from any group which carries out or encourages attacks on Christians and their places of worship as this stands in contradistinction from the true teachings of Islam.

We assert clearly and unambiguously that contrary to the distorted doctrine of violent groups, Al-Jannah does not lie at the feet of killers of Christians and bombers of churches but rather it is, first and foremost, attained with the incomprehensible grace of Almighty Allah and bestowed upon righteous Muslims who extend charity, love and tolerance to their neighbours.

MURIC charges Christian leaders to join hands with the leadership of Nigerian Muslims in the struggle to expel all vestiges of aggression from the land, whether it is greedy politicians who corruptly arrogate to themselves all the milk and honey in the land or mindless criminals who make life unsafe for the citizens. We have no doubt that religious leaders can use the powerful tools of faith to save Nigerians from insecurity, ignorance, hunger and disease.

Instead of engaging in unwarranted acrimony and sensational finger-pointing, the leadership of the body of Christ in Nigeria and the Muslim Ummah can explore the deep abyss of divinity to unite Nigerians for peace and progress.

                                             

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

08182119714

OBASANJO'S MISSIVE: ASO ROCK IS PROCRASTINATING

16^th December, 2013

PRESS RELEASE:

OBASANJO’S MISSIVE: ASO ROCK IS PROCRASTINATING

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote an 18 page-letter to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan a few days ago raising grave concern over some very serious national issues.

Most prominent among the issues raised in Obasanjo’s monumental missive are the allegation that the president is destroying the party; that he is currently training 1,000 snipers to deal with opposition figures; that the president is not sincere about the war on corruption and that the president has maintained a conspiratorial silence each time his clansmen threatened the rest of Nigeria.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) observes that Obasanjo took it upon himself to write the letter as a major stakeholder in the ruling party (the People’s Democratic Party, PDP) having ruled the country under the umbrella of the same PDP for two terms and having served as the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) for several years. The fact that the historical letter came soon after the defection of five state governors from the PDP is quite didactic and shows the major raison d’être for Obasanjo’s letter.  

MURIC notes that the letter was dated 2^nd December, 2013 and we are worried that President Jonathan is yet to react to the main allegations two weeks after it was written. Instead, the president has taken shelter in the bosom of boot-lickers and court-jesters. Is President Jonathan waiting for angels to bring him answers from heaven?

The issues raised are too fundamental to be brushed aside. They have to do with the core principles of democracy: probity, accountability, justice, fairplay and equal rights. They have to do with the welfare of the Nigerian people and how to bring food to the common man’s table. We are talking of the security of lives and properties and the president of this country who has been accused of training professional assassins keeps mute. How can there be security when the president himself becomes a threat? The chief security officer becomes the major threat to security of lives. It is unheard of. The president must break the ice. Nigerians are running out of patience to hear the president’s defence.

It is on record that when the neocon-dominated Grand Old Party (GOP) accused US President Barrack Obama of pursuing a foreign policy of appeasement, Obama fired back within 24 hours whether the killing of Osama bin Laden and about 22 other key figures of Al-Qaedah fits into that allegation, the GOP promptly put its tail between its legs like a frightened dog and ran off the stage.

MURIC is asking Mr. President why it must take him a whole projected second term (2015 – 2019) to answer the Tsunami-igniting allegations leveled against him by a former head of state who should know.

We reject NNPC’s lame explanation that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) does not know the procedure for tracking Nigeria’s oil money. That line of reasoning is myopic, infantile and therefore unacceptable. It is designed to mislead gullible Nigerians. CBN is on track on this issue of missing $49.8b. CBN is not meddling into oil exploitation or its drilling. CBN is talking about facts and figures of oil income and that is CBN’s constituency. For Allah’s sake somebody somewhere is milking Nigeria dry in preparation for 2015!

Or what is Jonathan’s take on Oduahgate? Why is the president silent on this N255m scandal? If the president considers Stella Oduah as a sacred cow, then he has desecrated his sacred office. This woman has been indicted by the committees which investigated her. Is there no limit to executive protection of thieves and rogues in this country? What message is Mr. President trying to pass to civil servants, artisans, teachers and students and other young Nigerians? Is Nigeria’s image irredeemable? Should honest Nigerians say goodbye to transparency out of frustration? Mr. President’s body language seems to be saying a capital YES to each of these questions.

A female minister was removed by the president of Ghana a few weeks ago. The minister had not actually stolen money. She merely expressed the wish to amass wealth. Why is Nigeria’s case different? Why is Stella Oduah a tin god in Aso Rock?

A president who declares the candidate who scores 16 votes as the winner and treats the candidate who scores 19 as a criminal; a president who enters into a pledge to serve only one term only to turn around to deny the existence of such an agreement; a president under whom members of the opposition are denied right to use the Nigerian airspace; a president who orders or condones the marking of opposition secretariat and their private properties for destruction; a president who looks the other way as police torment a whole state governor; a president under whose watchful eyes a serving minister threatens to make life unbearable for a state governor is not fit to be the bastion of our fledgling democracy.

Nigerians are itching to get answers for these and other issues raised by former President Obasanjo. The National Assembly should stand firm on this issue. The nation’s lawmakers must remember the words of Malcolm X, “Power never takes a back step, only in the face of greater power”, the corroborative compliment of Noah Webster who said, “Power is always right, weakness always wrong. Power is always insolent and despotic” and Thomas Jefferson’s nail in the coffin of tyrants, "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." NASS must compel President Jonathan to explain the rationale behind his actions. NASS is the last hope of the people.

Aso Rock is procrastinating and procrastination is the thief of time. Further delay is not acceptable to Nigerians. Jonathan must speak up now.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

08182119714

WE REJECT SENATE’S POSITION ON APO KILLINGS

29^th November, 2013

PRESS RELEASE:

WE REJECT SENATE’S POSITION ON APO KILLINGS

The Senate on Wednesday 27^th November, 2013 declared that the eight people killed by security agents in Apo Quarters were not members of Boko Haram but the Upper House cleared the Nigerian security agencies of culpability in the death of the workers.

It will be recalled that eight Keke Napep operators were killed by security agents as they squatted in an uncompleted building at Soji Aderemi Close, Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja, on 20^th September, 2013.

We note with deep concern the obvious contradiction in the report. Whereas Senate admits that the victims were not members of Boko Haram, it went ahead to absolve the security agencies who carried out the dastardly act.

We of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) condemn this double standard in the strongest terms. This type of thing should not be happening in a democracy. Life is sacred and security agencies have no right under the law to kill and maim at will. It is sheer manifestation of impunity.

MURIC finds the testimonies in the minority reports more credible. We commend Senators Mohammed Sani Saleh (Kaduna Central) and Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa (Zamfara Central) for their courageous stand and their rejection of the report. We are of the considered opinion that Senate has allowed religious sentiment to becloud its sense of judgement. Senate has failed the people of Nigeria.

We therefore urge families and friends of the victims to seek redress in the courts. MURIC pledges to render every necessary assistance in this regard until the culprits are brought to book. Nigerian security agencies must learn to respect constitutionalism, rule of law, equal rights, justice and fairplay.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

08182119714

ARREST OF DR. NAZEEF: MURIC CALLS FOR CAUTION

24^th November, 2013

PRESS RELEASE:

TERRORISM CHARGE AGAINST DR NAZEEF:

MURIC CALLS FOR CAUTION

The State Security Service (SSS) recently paraded Dr. Muhammad Nazeef, a lecturer of Islamic Studies at the Kogi State University and four others (Umar Musa, Mustapha Yusuf, Ismaila Abdulazez and Ibrahim Isah) who had been detained on suspicion of being members of a Boko Haram cell in Kogi State. Whereas his co-detainees testified against him, Dr. Nazeef has vehemently maintained his innocence.   

While we realize the need for the law to take its due course, we equally see the necessity for proper investigation of the matter in order to avoid a situation whereby an innocent man is unjustly punished. Dr. Nazeef is a well known Islamic scholar who has spoken against terrorism and violence in his public lectures. The fact that he holds a doctorate degree in Islamic Studies means that he has deep knowledge of Islam and cannot compromise Islam’s true teachings of peace and peaceful coexistence for the distorted Boko Haram ideology of bestial violence and terror.

Again while we admit the fact that the security agencies must do their job, we remind them of the sophisticated approach of the Boko Haram group. We strongly suspect that Dr. Nazeef may have been targeted for vengeance by the group because of his condemnation of their activities.

Nigeria is witnessing another phase in Boko Haramism. Having faced a solid wall in its guerrilla warfare against the Nigerian state, the group is now graduating into advanced psychological warfare. It has mastered the advanced plot of setting up one enemy to be eliminated by another enemy.

Boko Haram is now using its members to set up Islamic scholars who speak against them. Security agents have swallowed the bait: hook, line and sinker. The four men who testified against Dr. Nazeef are the guinea pigs. The question may arise: who is the next Islamic scholar that Boko Haram will set up before Nigerian security agents read between the lines?

It is an open secret that Boko Haram regards Islamic scholars who condemn terrorism and violence as their enemies primus inter pareil. The group is known to have assassinated several Islamic scholars when the group was still very strong. They are now reverting to subterfuge in their days of weakness. Boko Haram is out to get in the bends what it could not get in the straights.

They may have roped in Dr. Nazeef using those who testified against him. This is a group that believes in dying for a cause in which it believes. This is a group that has sent its members out on missions of no return in the past. What will it cost them to send three or more people to mislead security agents so long as it will lead to the incarceration of a long-time foe?

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) therefore appeals to the SSS to look before it leaps. Our hypothesis is that SSS may indirectly be doing to Dr. Nazeef what Boko Haram actually wants to do to him. This may produce a negative effect on Islamic scholars nationwide. Those who have been condemning Boko Haram and terrorism may crawl back into their shells for fear of being targeted by the dreaded terror group while those who have been timid and silent on the issue will now prefer to remain silent forever. The result of this development is the unfettered growth of terror cells.

While MURIC reaffirms its condemnation of terrorism, we remind security agents that they cannot fight terrorism alone. They need information and cooperation from civilians. There is no gainsaying the fact that it is the Muslims who can be most useful in this regard particularly on the Boko Haram affair while it is Islamic scholars who can effectively counter Boko Haram indoctrination. What message is the SSS passing across if it continues to detain the same Islamic scholars?

It must be noted that Nigerian Muslims have been united in condemning Boko Haram and Islamic scholars have dug deep into the scriptures of Islam (the Glorious Qur’an and the Hadith of the Holy Prophet SAW) to puncture Boko Haram’s misleading ideology. This is why the violent group regards Islamic scholars as their numero uno foes and always targets them for elimination.

SSS and other security outfits may therefore be cutting their noses to spite their faces by detaining and prosecuting Islamic scholars. It may be a sophisticated Boko Haram strategy. Our security agents may be waging Boko Haram’s war against Islamic scholars on behalf of Boko Haram.

On the basis of the above thesis, MURIC affirms that the arrest of Dr. Muhammad Nazeef can only be counter-productive. We call on the SSS to urgently review the case and set him free. SSS must determine who it is working for: Boko Haram or the Nigeria State? To continue detaining those who speak against Boko Haram is to work indirectly for the terror group.

MURIC appeals to Islamic scholars and organizations who have been apprehensive since the arrest of Dr. Nazeef to relax. We also urge leaders of Islamic organizations throughout Nigeria to douse tension among their members. Suspicions of witch-hunting and profiling of Muslims and Islamic scholars by security agents should not be allowed to germinate at this point in time when the nation needs the prayers of Islamic scholars for Nigeria’s spiritual growth and the peaceful conduct of the Muslim population for economic development.

Finally, MURIC urges the Security Committees of both Senate and the House of Representatives to examine the circumstances surrounding the case of Dr. Nazeef against the background of his impeccable record of positive spiritual guidance for Muslims and his past condemnation of violence, terrorism and Boko Haramism.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

08182119714