MURIC TO NORTHERN GOVERNORS: NO ALTERNATIVE TO TINUBU

 

29^th November, 2022

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC TO NORTHERN GOVERNORS: NO ALTERNATIVE TO TINUBU    

 

A call has gone to some Northern governors who are allegedly ‘planning’ to work for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to shelve the plan. Islamic human rights group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has told the governors that there is no alternative to Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The group maintained that two Muslims are better than one.

 

 

This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday, 29^th November, 2022 by the director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

 

The statement reads:

 

“Some Northern governors are allegedly ‘planning’ to work for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. This is according to some newspaper reports (https://www.naijanews.com/2022/11/27/2023-northern-apc-governors-planning-to-work-for-atiku/?utm_source=break.ma&utm_medium=break.ma).

 

“We trust Northern governors. We are of the opinion that somebody is trying to raise a false alarm or ignite the embers of mischief. We find the report lacking in merit. Our position is based on the declaration of the twelve Northern governors who pitched their camp with Bola Ahmed Tinubu by insisting that power must shift to the South just before the presidential primaries.

 

“We recall that MURIC in its press statement of 11^th June 2022 under the caption ‘MURIC to Tinubu on VP Post: Consult the Noble Dozen’ hailed the twelve Northern governors for ‘disabusing the minds of Nigerians concerning the myth of Northern hegemony and a nonexistent caliphate oligarchy by insisting that APC’s presidential candidate must come from the South. This was a great sacrifice and a noble idea.’

 

“We have no scintilla of doubt that Northern governors who had earlier pledged to support Tinubu will not toy with the idea of working against him because, as Muslims, they are fully aware that every pledge is being recorded by angels according to Qur’an 82:10 -12 (kiraaman kaatibiin); that it is a great sin for a Muslim to promise what he will not do (Qur’an 61:2 – 3) and that Allah will hold man accountable for his promises (Qur’an 17:34).

 

“We therefore have every reason to believe that the publication is mere speculation, false, baseless and unfounded. It is an attempt to break Muslim ranks. Northern Muslim governors are too well grounded in politics and the ethics of Islam than to allow such speculation. It cannot be true. It had better not be.

 

“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is a Muslim and a Northerner. He is therefore one of us. But Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima are two Muslims. Just as two heads are better than one, two Muslims are better than one. Ahmed and Kashim are better than Abubakar and Okonwa. We repeat, two Muslims are better than one.

 

“Besides, Yoruba Muslims of the South West have spoken loud and clear. They have endorsed Tinubu. MURIC in particular demanded for a Yoruba Muslim president as far back as February 2021 (https://saharareporters.com/2021/02/26/yoruba-muslims-wont-support-any-non-muslim-candidate-2023-presidency-%E2%80%94muric) and we have since been consistent.

 

“The Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN) which is the only umbrella organisation of all Yoruba Muslims also endorsed Tinubu two weeks ago (https://thenationonlineng.net/muswen-endorses-tinubu-for-presidency/) and MURIC went ahead to endorse Tinubu only yesterday (https://dailypost.ng/2022/11/28/2023-tinubu-only-option-of-south-west-muslims-muric/).

 

“MURIC is therefore sending a very strong signal to the North: Yoruba Muslims are standing solidly like the Rock of Gibralta behind Tinubu. He is our own. We will never desert him. We expect Northern Muslims to be as consistent as the northern star because the Qur’an says Muslims are one brotherhood (Qur’an 49:10). Besides, two Muslims are better than one.”

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

 

‘JUJU LAWYER’ OMIRHOBO IS A CONFUSIONIST – MURIC

 

27^th November, 2022

PRESS RELEASE:

‘JUJU LAWYER’ OMIRHOBO IS A CONFUSIONIST – MURIC   

 

Islamic human rights group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has described ‘Juju Lawyer’, Chief Malcolm Omirhobo, as a confusionist. MURIC was reacting to the ‘Juju lawyer’s’ allegation that the organisation does not exist in law (https://newsbreak.ng/muric-is-a-nonentity-at-law-juju-lawyer-fires-muslim-grp-over-rccg-row/amp/).

 

MURIC’s reaction came on Sunday, 27^th November, 2022 through its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

The statement reads:

“‘Juju lawyer’, Chief Malcolm Omirhobo yesterday referred to our organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), as ‘nonexistent at law’ and the director of MURIC an ‘illiterate professor’. Omirhobo’s statement is infantile, misleading, laughable and ludicrous. The attention-seeking Omirhobo himself is a confusionist.

 

“We were tempted ab initio not to dignify his verbal halitosis with a response but for the need to put the records straight. Contrary to his claim that our organisation is not registered, we affirm clearly, emphatically and categorically that we are registered. In actual fact we have been registered since February 2011 with registration number IT 43397. This is verifiable.

 

“We put it to Omirhobo that his latest vitriolic vituperations are manifestations of wound-licking, wishful-thinking and day-dreaming. The same ‘Juju lawyer’ who claimed that we were not registered admitted at the end of his diatribe that we are registered. But he added that we are registered as ‘MURICA’ and not MURIC.

 

“If William Shakespeare can ask ‘What’s in a name? We dare ask Omirhobo ‘What’s in an acronym?’ Our learned friend finds it convenient to forget that acronyms are picked and used as convenient by organisations. What is important is that we are registered in our full name, Muslim Rights Concern Association.

 

 

“MURIC affirms that Omirhobo is a mere distraction and he has failed in his bid to throw spanner in the works. His reference to the director of MURIC as an ‘illiterate professor’ is the greatest joke of the century. This lawyer is full of himself, self-righteous and impulsively arrogant.

 

 

“If not for arrogance, how can a lawyer attempt to question the judgement of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land and repository of our font et origo? How can a lawyer denigrate the lawyers’ robe by combining it with a juju priest attire? How can a lawyer disparage the highest court in the land by appearing in its most hallowed chamber in such ridiculous attire? It is a comedy of errors!

 

 

“Indubitably, this is infra dignitatem. The noble judges of the Supreme Court deserve better treatment, particularly from a lawyer who should know better. Law abiding citizens treat judges with respect. In particular, our organization holds lawyers and judges in the highest esteem. Only Barrister Omirhobo behaves as if he practices law on planet Mars. He is in dire need of wise counselling.

 

 

“Omirhobo called the director of MURIC an ‘illiterate professor’. This lawyer is living in self-delusion. How can an ‘illiterate professor’ make a learned lawyer run from pillar to post? Why is Omirhobo having sleepless nights because of MURIC? It will be the worst tragedy to hit the bench if this man ever becomes a judge anywhere in Nigeria.”  

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

 

MURIC TO NIGERIAN MUSLIMS : AVOID CHRISTIAN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

 

24^th November, 2022

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC TO NIGERIAN MUSLIMS : AVOID CHRISTIAN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES 

 

An Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has advised Nigerian Muslim students and their parents to avoid applying for admission into private universities owned by Christians pending the time the National Universities Commission (NUC) would sanitise them.

 

The group alleged that Christian proprietors of private universities are yet to purge themselves of tramadolised religiousity and deep-seated hatred for Muslims and their faith. This is manifested in forceful conversion of Muslim students, compelling Muslim students to attend church service and disallowing female Muslim students from using hijab.

 

A statement issued on Thursday, 24^th November, 2022 by the group’s director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, accused Christian owners of private universities of gymnastic religiousity, religious intolerance and identity theft.

 

The statement reads:

“We have a litany of reports coming from Muslim students in private universities owned by Christians concerning anti-Muslim practices and religious apartheid. Muslim students are not allowed to practice their faith in those private universities. They cannot form Muslim students associations.

 

“Worse still, they are not given any space where they can pray. Hijab is an anathema in such institutions. Muslim students are forced to attend Christian service in the chapel where attendance registers are marked and absentees are sanctioned. These institutions have the poorest human rights records today. To Muslim parents and students, these institutions are comparable to torture chambers at least for the duration of their studentship.

 

“These actions amount to gymnastic religiousity, religious intolerance and identity theft on the part of Christian owners of private universities. It is religious intolerance when Christian school authorities fail to provide a place for Muslim students to pray. It is acrobatic spirituality when Muslim students are forced to attend church. It is identity theft when Christian school owners disallow female Muslim students from wearing hijab thereby making them look like Christians.

 

“This treatment is obnoxious, unlawful, illegal, illegitimate and unconstitutional. It is an existential threat to the religion of Islam. It also constitutes indubitable proof of complete desertification of religious tolerance in the vocabulary of owners of Christian private universities.

 

“One way out of this quagmire is for Muslim students and their parents to make proper investigations before applying for admission into any private university. Those found to be owned by Christians should be avoided at all cost because they are nothing but spiritual traps set for Muslims to lose their identities.

 

“Christian proprietors do not possess that magnanimity, liberality and broadmindedness to share what they have without attaching strings. They continue to assure us with their body language that Christian evangelism in Nigeria knows no decency, to them all is fair, particularly that which is foul.

 

“To them, Muslim students are not among those who should enjoy or exercise their Allah-given fundamental human rights. Human rights should be enjoyed by Christian students alone.

 

“We urge Muslim students and their parents to avoid Christian private universities pending the time that the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) will sanitise them or pending the time Christian owners of private universities would have eschewed religious bigotry or learned to live and let live.”

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

 

MURIC TO NUC: STOP OPPRESSION OF MUSLIM STUDENTS IN CHRISTIAN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

 

21^st November, 2022

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC TO NUC: STOP OPPRESSION OF MUSLIM STUDENTS IN CHRISTIAN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

 

A call has gone to the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) to take necessary steps capable of stopping the oppression of Muslim students in Christian-owned private universities. The call was made by the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC). The group alleged that Christian proprietors of private universities have consistently subjected Muslim students to forceful conversion via compulsory attendance of church services and denial of personal identity by disallowing use of hijab.

 

Making the call on Monday, 21^st November, 2022 was the director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

He said:

“Private universities owned by Christians in the country have become torture chambers for Muslim students. The Muslim students cannot form any association on the basis of their own faith in those schools. They have no spaces for their prayers. They are forced to attend the church on campus as attendance is marked by the authorities. Muslim students who fail to go to church are sanctioned. This smirks of religious apartheid. It is therefore unacceptable.

 

“It is noteworthy that such private universities do not bear Christian names. Therefore Muslim students have no foreknowledge that they are seeking admission into Christian-owned universities. They are deceived into applying, paying acceptance fees and the school fees proper without being told that the institutions are owned by Christians or that they would be run according to Christian teachings.

 

It is after they have packed into the hostel and started attending classes that the school authorities start issuing odd rules. We see this as unfair, deceitful, fraudulent and non-transparent.

 

“MURIC calls on the National Universities Commission (NUC) to intervene in this issue. Private universities should be true to the conditions of their approval by the Federal Government and their registration by the NUC. They should not be allowed to change the goal post after the game has started.

 

“They must be compelled to follow due process and to obey the rules of the land. No private university should make rules that will subject students to inhuman conditions. Forceful conversion by forcing Muslim students to attend church services is a gross violation of the letter and spirit of the Nigerian constitution.

 

“They get away with this pernicious, degrading and dehumanising practice by claiming that they are private institutions. But the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria makes the Nigerian Constitution the font et origo of all laws, rules, regulations, directives, memoranda, etc to the effect that no rule emanating from any other source shall override its provisions.  

 

“Chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1(1) & (3) of the 1999 Constitution stipulates: ‘This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria.’

 

 

“In particular, Section 1(3) says, ‘If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void.’

 

 

If this is so and if Nigeria is not paying ordinary lip service to its own laws, the provisions of Section 38 (i) & (ii) which provides that ‘every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance’ should be made to apply to Christian-owned private universities which have turned their institutions to religious apartheid enclaves for Muslim students.

 

 

“Muslim students need NUC’s protection from the feudalistic spiritual slave masters of contemporary time which Christian private universities have turned out to be. Compliance with religious freedom and religious tolerance rules are some of the conditions which NUC should consider before issuing certificate of approval to private universities.

 

“Every individual or group, whether Muslim or Christian seeking to establish a private university should be made to sign an undertaking guaranteeing religious freedom. In addition, NUC should review the approval clauses of all existing private institutions in the country with a view to making them sign the same undertaking. This is necessary because Christian-owned private institutions are behaving as if they have the power to change the faith of their students as they wish.”

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

 

‘C OF O’ : MURIC REMINDS DAPO ABIODUN

 

15^th November, 2022

PRESS RELEASE:

‘C OF O’ : MURIC REMINDS DAPO ABIODUN

 

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has reminded Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State of the need to release the Certificates of Occupancy (‘C of O’) to those who participated in the Homeowners’ Charter scheme since 2018. The human rights organisation said releasing the C of O to the owners before the elections will be of great electoral benefit to the governor.

 

MURIC’s reminder came on Tuesday, 15^th November, 2022 through its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

The statement reads:

“The fate of hundreds of Ogun State residents who applied for the Ogun State Homeowners’ Charter scheme since January 2018 still hangs in the balance four years later. There has been no word from the state government despite the fact that many of the applicants had paid in full.

 

“Although the scheme was launched by the former governor, Ibikunle Amosun, MURIC believes that governance is a continuum. The records must be there and the right thing to do is to pick the scheme up from where Abiodun’s predecessor stopped.

 

“Good governance resides in the corridor of continuity. Museum mentality will never take any administration anywhere. Besides, this is the right time to demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to the yearnings of the electorate. One good turn deserves another.

 

“Ogun State homeowners who get their ‘C of Os’ before February 23^rd 2023 are most likely to dedicate their PVCs to the electoral aspirations of Governor Dapo Abiodun.”

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)