2nd September, 2025
PRESS RELEASE:
RENO OMOKRI ON FREE FRIDAY: WE ARE VINDICATED – MURIC
A former presidential aide, Mr. Reno Omokri, recently shocked
Nigerians when he openly asserted that Muslims in the country were being
cheated as they are denied work-free Fridays while their Christian counterparts
had the whole of Saturday and Sunday free.
Reacting to the statement which went viral, an Islamic civil liberties
organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has described Mr. Omokri as one
of the most intellectually active, politically detribalised and religiously liberal
Christians in Nigeria.
The group said Mr. Omokri’s declaration on the need for work-free
Friday has vindicated its stand since 1994. It therefore called on the various
governments at both federal and state levels, particularly in the Muslim
dominated North, to put an end to the oppression of Muslims by declaring Friday
work-free.
The statement continued:
“A former
presidential aide, Mr. Reno Omokri, recently made headlines when he openly asserted
that Muslims in the country were being cheated as they were denied work-free
Fridays while their Christian counterparts had the whole of Saturday and Sunday
free (https://tribuneonlineng.com/muslims-working-on-fridays-is-unfair-while-sunday-is-work-free-reno-omokri/).
“We know Mr. Reno Omokri is a patriot nulli secundus and a
progressive Nigerian. He is also, indubitably, one of the most intellectually
active, politically detribalised and religiously liberal Christians in Nigeria.
“Mr.
Omokri’s declaration on the need for work-free Friday has vindicated our stand
since 1994 when our organization (MURIC) was established. We have been
demanding work-free Fridays for the past 31 years using every peaceful and
legitimate means available.
“The Founder and Executive Director of MURIC went as far as writing a
book on the subject-matter. The book, a 138-page affair captioned ‘The
Friday Question’, (At-Tawheed Publications, Lagos, 1993; second edition
2021) was launched at the Ansar-ud-deen Hall, Surulere, Lagos in 1994 under the
chairmanship of the former secretary general of the Nigerian Supreme Council
for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), the late Dr. Lateef Adegbite.
“MURIC has been called several unprintable names for demanding
work-free Friday while its leader has been falsely labelled an extremist, a religious
fanatic, a fundamentalist, a terrorist, etc all because he is an advocate of
civil liberty for Nigerian Muslims. But the truth has come to the open through a
most unexpected source, through a Christian social crusader.
“Mr. Reno Omokri is a household name in Nigeria today. He is known for
his bold and objective pronouncements regardless whose ox is gored. This man
will not delve into the Friday question if there was no merit in it.
“We hail
Reno Omokri for speaking up in this manner. It is not his first time of
revealing the truth on issues that are wrongly understood in this country. Reno
Omokri is definitely one of the few Christian presidential materials. He is a
guiding light, a president-in-waiting.
“The only difference between our advocacy for work-free Friday and
that of Reno Omokri is that the latter wants work to stop by 12 noon on Friday
while we are calling for the whole Friday to be work-free.
“The book, ‘The Friday Question’, dedicated a whole chapter to the
logistics (pages 54 – 70 second edition, 2021). Six options ‘A’ to ‘F’ were put
forward but option ‘C’ was picked as the most viable (pages 61 – 63).
“Option ‘C’ posits a thesis of a 3-day weekend (Friday, Saturday and
Sunday) with the suggestion that the eight hours lost on Friday can be made up
for by adding two extra hours daily from Monday to Thursday. In which case workers
may resume by 8 am and close by 6 pm or work from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm.
“Unknown
to those who oppose the idea of a work-free Friday, including the federal and
state governments, a work-free Friday will create an enlightened Muslim
population. Nigerian Muslims will be able to learn more about their faith. Nigeria
stands to gain a lot from this. For instance, it will reduce incidents of
spontaneous violence among Muslims who react to perceived blasphemous statements.
“Nigerian Christians learn a lot about their faith on Sundays because Sundays
are work-free’. On the contrary, Nigerian Muslims are shut up in a cage of
ignorance every Friday morning only to be scattered like wild oats on Friday
afternoon because they have to go to work in the morning, take permission to
attend mosque for one hour in the afternoon around 1 pm and still return to
work by 3 pm.
“Interestingly,
while Christian families go to church together on Sundays, Muslim families are
scattered from workplaces to schools. The Muslim husband cannot attend the same
mosque with his wife as they both work in different places. Neither can the
Muslim father take his children to the same mosque because the father is at
work while the children are in their various schools. Muslim families are
therefore ‘scattered’ by the present system while Christian families are
united.
“The impact on Muslim children has now become very obvious. Many of
them become half-baked Muslims. Unfortunately some of such half-baked Muslims become
leaders in later life and this reflects in their lackadaisical approach to religious
issues. People can only give what they have.
“Our experience over the years have revealed that the absence of
work-free Friday is at the root of the existence of a subconscious Muslim
population in the country, particularly the South West. On the contrary, the
vibrancy of the Christians in the same region can be attributed to what they
learn in church on their work-free Sundays.
“While
religious radicalism, Boko Haram and banditry in the North can be traced to
poverty and the wide gap between the rich and the poor in that region, area boys
syndrome and ‘agbero’ mentality which are common among Muslim youths in the
South can be attributed to the lack of proper Islamic enlightenment due to the
absence of work-free Friday.
“We are saying, in essence, that Nigerians who have been opposing
work-free Friday have been cutting their noses to spite their faces. In other
words, they have been hurting themselves without knowing.
“A well-informed Muslim and Christian populace will benefit all.
Ignorance is a disease. Whereas religion is expected to free mankind from evil
acts, it has been the other way round for us in Nigeria where we practice
acrobatic religiousity.
“The average Muslim insists on going on pilgrimage every year causing
tremendous drain on the country’s scarce foreign exchange while the average
Christian must go annually to Jerusalem. Meanwhile pilgrimage to Makka is only
conditionally required once in a lifetime while there is no biblical injunction
that makes pilgrimage to Jerusalem mandatory.
“We became enemies and rivals unto ourselves for no just cause. We
cause untold suffering to perceived religious opposition groups. Nay, we do
everything possible to delay the progress of the other camp. But worse still,
we ambush ourselves, kill, maim, burn and destroy. Yet all is based on
NAFDAC-registered ignorance.
“We
therefore call on the various governments at both federal and state levels,
particularly in the Muslim dominated North, to put an end to the oppression of
Muslims by declaring Friday work-free.
“We recommend
option ‘C’ as in the ‘Friday Question’ book for states willing to experiment work-free
Friday. In this option, workers may resume by 8 am and close by 6 pm from Monday
to Thursday, or work from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm.”
#RenoOmokri
#KudosRenoOmokri
#WorkFreeFriday
#TheFridayQuestion
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Founder/Executive Director,
Muslim
Rights Concern (MURIC)
