IMPERATIVE FOR INCOMING ADMINISTRATION: REVIEW TWILIGHT PROJECTS, APPOINTMENTS & SACKS

18^th May, 2015

PRESS RELEASE:

IMPERATIVE FOR INCOMING ADMINISTRATION:

REVIEW TWILIGHT PROJECTS, APPOINTMENTS & SACKS

Outgoing Nigerian president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, recently undertook last-minute location and commencement of projects, sacks and appointment of heads of government parastatals.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) wishes to question the rationale for these hurried actions. We find no justification for them since the Jonathan regime is at the twilight of its tenure. We smell a rat. We therefore wish to alert the incoming Buhari administration to make the revocation of these mischievous actions its first fait accompli within seven days of its resumption.       

These eleventh hour appointments and sacks are irritating Nigerians. They bother on the theatre of the absurd. It is as if a sleeping and clueless regime has just woken up. But the litany of corruption cases and acts of indiscipline to which President Jonathan turned a blind eye in spite of public outcries belies his recent attempt to act born-again.

Even the president’s explanation for sacking former Inspector General of Police, Sulaiman Abba, which he gave two weeks after the sack does not hold water. President Jonathan claimed that the former chief of police was booted out of office for acts of indiscipline. Mr. President can tell the marines.

Nigerians know better. Most of the recent sacks, appointments, location and relocation of projects few days to the administration’s exit were motivated by bitterness, malice as well as a deep sense of frustration over election loss. Aso Rock is no longer working for and in the interest of Nigerians. Our Oga on top may be suffering from suspended shock.

If it is true that Jonathan means well, why has the president’s transition committee failed to cooperate with that of the President-Elect? Why is Jonathan not forthcoming in his interactions with Buhari?

The president-elect allegedly complained yesterday that he had learnt nothing from President Jonathan. Governance is a continuum and Buhari is expected to continue from where Jonathan stopped. How can transition be smooth if Jonathan fails to reveal what he has done? Is this in the interest of our dear country? What is our president hiding? This is quite alarming. Nigerians need to brace up because Jonathan is leading us to terra incognito.

In conclusion, we question the moral justification for the post-election appointments, sacks, location and relocation of projects by President Jonathan. We demand the revocation of all such actions within the first seven days of the resumption of the Buhari administration.

Most importantly, we alert the international community that President Jonathan’s latest foot-dragging antics expose him as a bad loser and reveals that his concession of defeat was merely an outward show designed to portray him as a democracy-compliant African leader.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

LONG QUEUES AT FUEL STATIONS: IS SUFFERING JONATHAN’S PARTING GIFT?

12^th May, 2015

PRESS RELEASE:

LONG QUEUES AT FUEL STATIONS:

IS SUFFERING JONATHAN’S PARTING GIFT?   

The long queues at filling stations all over the country which began about two weeks ago have continued unabated. Travellers, particularly car owners, are stranded. Workers, many of whom have not received their salaries since November last year, are forced to trek long distances to reach their places of work.

Petrol is sold at exorbitant prices in different parts of the country. Only the fuel stations belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are selling at the normal price (N87 per liter) and only those who can afford to sleep at the NNPC petrol stations are buying there as the queues extend to kilometers on end. Prices in other filling stations range from N300 to N140.

The impact on the economy has been severe. Prices of foodstuffs have skyrocketed. There is widespread hunger in the land. Traders blame increased prices on transporters who charge more than 300% to bring goods to the city. Transporters are not even trying to defend the hike in transport fare. They know Nigerians are not blind and vehicles do not run on ordinary water.

The poor jamaheer (masses) who live in face-me-I-face-you houses are the worst for it as they can no longer afford to buy fuel to operate their I-pass-my-neighbour ‘toy’ generators. They are forced to stay awake sweating it out in this scorching heat particularly now that it is evident that Jonathan’s power project has become a mirage.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is perturbed by the unending fuel crisis. We denounce the cluelessness which has greeted this phenomenon for the past two weeks. What kind of system is the petroleum ministry running for Allah’s sake? Why must petrol scarcity occur so repeatedly that it becomes a regime’s middle name?

But the buck stops at President Jonathan’s table. A visionary long-term plan for the regular supply of fuel could have put paid to this mess. It is so bad now that Nigerians would have taken to the streets but for the fact that they know Jonathan is on his way out.

President Jonathan’s record in governance is quite disturbing, if not scandalous. How do we explain the untold suffering brought upon Nigerians through the present petrol scarcity? It has affected all sectors, all disciplines.

Children going to school; undergraduates and their lecturers who have to move from one institution to another for research purposes; meetings, seminars and conferences that have been scheduled which must now be rescheduled, etc. We must not forget the six weeks postponement of the presidential election forced on the nation by President Jonathan and its bandwagon effect on many other programmes in the country.

We must ask President Jonathan: Where is fuel? Where is the regular electricity supply which Jonathan promised us? It is just 18 days to handing over and the total power supply has dropped to 2,800 megawatts for the whole country. Why should we regret being Nigerians? Jonathan’s administration is an unmitigated disaster.

  

MURIC demands immediate end to the fuel crisis. President Jonathan is ending his tenure on a sad note and with resounding failure. Mr. President is wasting our time and making us suffer. This is the least we expect from an outgoing leader, unless suffering is actually what he had planned all along as his parting gift for Nigerians.

We conclude this press statement with a caveat. Nigerians must keep their eyes and ears wide open. The ongoing fuel shortage may be another well rehearsed maneuver to scuttle the transition. It may have been designed to shoot up our adrenalin glands, ready to burst in the first month of the incoming Buhari administration.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

DEATH OF CHIEF IMAM NATIONAL MOSQUE: MURIC CONDOLES SULTAN & NIGERIAN MUSLIMS

3^rd May, 2015

PRESS RELEASE:

DEATH OF CHIEF IMAM NATIONAL MOSQUE: MURIC CONDOLES SULTAN & NIGERIAN MUSLIMS

The death has been announced of the Chief Imam of the National Mosque, Abuja, Alhaji Musa Mohammed. He died Saturday evening after a brief illness.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) commiserates with the leader of all Nigerian Muslims, Alhaji Muhammad Saad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA). In like manner, we condole the entire Nigerian Muslim community and the Abuja Muslim jamaah whom the late Chief Imam had led and served most fervently during his lifetime.  

Alhaji Musa Muhammed dedicated his whole life to the service of Almighty Allah. He was a great scholar of Islam who led a simple and ascetic life. His death will serve as a lesson to Nigerians on the need to shun materialism and to move closer to the Unseen Creator. His death will definitely leave a yawning lacuna particularly in Abuja Muslim community.

MURIC charges Nigerian Muslims to use the occasion of his death to forge greater unity in the Muslim Ummah and promote peaceful coexistence with non-Muslims.

We pray that Almighty Allah will forgive the late Chief Imam’s shortcomings and shower His mercy on him. We also pray that Allah gives his family the strength to bear the loss.   

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

IGBINEDION JNR’S N3M FINE FOR N25B SCAM: A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE

1^st May, 2015

PRESS RELEASE:

IGBINEDION JNR’S N3M FINE FOR N25B SCAM: A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE

Justice J. Liman of the Federal High Court, Benin, yesterday fined Michael Igbinedion the sum of N3 million for stealing N25billion from the Edo state treasury during the period his elder brother, Lucky Igbinedion, served as governor in the state. The younger Igbinedion was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) rejects this pronouncement on the basis that it reflects gross travesty of justice. It is scandalous, laughable and anti-people. We see this as a mockery of the judicial system. This pronouncement must be reversed by an appellate court and a proportionate punishment meted out to the culprit.

We are heavily disappointed by this decision. Where is common law leading us in this country? This is the type of judgment which encourages corrupt politicians to siphon public funds without batting an eyelid. It is also used as excuse by armed robbers and kidnappers. They ask, “What has been done to politicians who steal billions with a stroke of the pen? How much do we steal in our robbery operations? Have we ever snatched up to one billion naira?”

A judicial system which sentences the poor man to six months imprisonment for stealing one tuber of yam but leaves the rich man who steals billions of naira to go scot free cannot be called fair in any sense of the word. Or how else can we describe the fine imposed on this over-pampered junior Igbinedion?

When will a Daniel come to justice in this country? What proportion of N25 billion is N3 million? The Nigerian judiciary has failed the jamaaheer (masses). Where is the money he stole anyway? Has it been refunded? Is he just going to refund N3 million out of it as fine and keep the remaining whopping N24 billion nine hundred and ninety seven million naira (N24,997,000,000.00)? It is preposterous!

Igbinedion was pronounced guilty as charged on counts79-81. Why then did the judge suddenly develop cold feet when it came to the pronouncement of sentence? Why is the sentence so light? How rational is a N3 million fine for stealing N25 billion? The fine is sheer chicken feed.

This man should have been made to rot in jail for years at least to serve as deterrent to other thieves like him in public office. Unless we start doing this, armed robbery and kidnapping will not stop because criminals use examples like Igbinedion as moral justification for their escapades.

Why can’t we learn from China? America has been forced to surrender the first position in the economic field to China. The communist state reached its present lofty height today because of its total war on corruption.

President Xi Jinping has waged an unprecedented anti-graft campaign since taking office in 2012. Liu Zhijun, the former railways minister was sentenced to death in 2013 for stealing railway funds. Former deputy chief engineer of China's disbanded railways ministry, Zhang Shuguang, was also sentenced to death for taking bribes of more than 47m yuan ($7.7m; £4.8m) over 11 years.

 

Nigerian leaders must fear Allah. The Glorious Qur’an warns against corrupt enrichment (Qur’an 2:188) and compares those who consume the tax-payers’ money to those who swallow fire into their intestines (Qur’an 4:29-30). Allah commands justice and fairplay (Qur’an 16:90) and frowns upon partiality on the part of judges (Qur’an 4:135).

Corruption will become a thing of the past in Nigeria the day we stop glorifying political kleptomaniacs. Thieves in public offices must not be allowed to enjoy their loot. The present situation in Nigeria in which the proletariat is overworked, underpaid and overtaxed is indeed worrisome.

Workers’ take-home pay cannot take them home whereas political jobbers are overpaid, over-pampered and over-protected. Yet their only expertise lies in stealing the tax-payers’ money.

Conclusively, MURIC urges EFCC to appeal against this misjudgement and ask for a heavier punishment. We appeal to the Nigerian Judicial Council to show keen interest in this case which is capable of making a laughing stock of the judiciary.

We charge the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the incoming ruling party, to study the modus operandi of the Chinese Communist Party in its fight against corruption.

While we are not calling for a communist manifesto, or a forceful seizure of assets belonging to the wealthy, we believe that Nigeria needs revolutionary change, a change in which anyone who steals public money, no matter how highly placed, will be made accountable, and very heavily too.

In this regard, we invite the newly elected lawmakers of the National Assembly to enroll in the new venture to clean the ‘mess’ called Nigeria.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)