MURIC FAULTS SOYINKA ON HIJAB

 

8^th August, 2022

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC FAULTS SOYINKA ON HIJAB

 

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), an Islamic human rights advocacy group, has disagreed with Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka on the issue of hijab as part of school uniform. However, the group agreed with Soyinka on the acceptability of the Muslim-Muslim ticket. On hijab, MURIC insists that uniformity should not lead to the annihilation of any culture.

 

The faith-based human rights group spoke through its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Monday, 8^th August, 2022.

 

“Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, spoke about Muslim-Muslim ticket and the use of hijab on Tuesday, 2^nd August, 2022. He saw nothing wrong with the former but frowned at the latter. While we agree with him on the former, we find his hypothesis on the latter full of holes.

 

“The respected Nobel Laureate had said, ‘There is one other thing going on in my mind. And I think we have the experts here who will talk about it. There are some school children over there. And one wonderful thing about them for me is that they are in uniform. In other words I cannot tell which one is a Christian, which one is a Muslim, which one is an Orisa worshipper, which one is a Zoroastrian, which one is a Buddhist. They are school children.’ (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/08/2023-wole-soyinka-speaks-on-outcry-against-muslim-muslim-ticket/)

 

“We beg to disagree sir. The children may be in uniform, but what type of uniform? That is what the respected Nobel Laureate did not see. He could not see what we see everyday. We see humiliation everyday. We see intimidation everyday. We see stereotyping, stigmatization and harassment everyday. Muslim children come home everyday with tales of derision and ostracization in the hands of school principals and teachers. Our hearts bleed.  

 

“The students Professor Soyinka saw were in Christian uniform but of course Prof did not see that. Anytime female Muslim children are denied the right to use hijab, they are forced to use Christian uniform. Any female Muslim student who wears her uniform without hijab is wearing Christian uniform. Hijab is our garment of spirituality. It is our symbol of freedom from neo-imperialism.

 

“A school uniform for Muslim female students without hijab is alien to Muslim culture. What Muslims accept as school uniform for their girls is one with a head covering. It is Christians who do not mind uncovering their heads in public. We do, and our value system should be respected if there is tolerance in society. Why are educated Nigerians unwilling to tolerate hijab? Who did this to Nigeria?

 

“If people gather in a hall in Britain or America with Africans among them, should the whites compel the blacks to dress like them? Must we all be in suits? Should one culture dominate the other? God created us in different shapes and colours. We have different cultures attesting to our heterogeneity. No attempt should be made to force everyone to adopt a particular culture.

 

“By the way, female Muslim students who are demanding hijab are not asking to use uniforms different from what other students are using. They will wear the same uniform but they will add a head cover of the same stuff and colour with the uniform.

 

“Anyway, Nigerian schools will do better with African dresses as school uniform instead of this colonial design. What is wrong with using ‘adire’, ‘buba’, ‘sokoto’, ‘iro’ and ‘gele’ as a way of discarding colonial mentality? It will also be the ‘secular’ uniform since Nigeria’s adoption of Christian uniform has necessitated the agitation for hijab as an Islamic identity.

 

“It was Lyndon B. Johnson who said ‘If we are to live in peace, we must know each other better’. What opponents of hijab need to do is to get to understand why Muslims want hijab and once they know that it is a divine instruction (Glorious Qur’an 24:30-31) there should be no more objection. Any opposition after that must be understood as a desire to stop Muslims from obeying their Lord and Creator. It becomes religious repression and Muslims have every right to resist it.

 

“The school uniform of a Muslim girl is incomplete without hijab. The Christian girl is comfortable with the ‘conventional’ uniform because it is a Christian uniform. It must be noted that the uniform used in Nigerian schools today was designed by the British colonial master who was, essentially, a Christian.

 

“The ideal school uniform for a Muslim girl is a pair of trousers with a gown that goes beyond the knees and hijab on her head. Her male counterpart should also use trousers with a shirt on top and a cap. But the cap is not mandatory because it is not part of the directive in the Glorious Qur’an.

 

“That is why the Nobel Laureate needs to know that there is more than just one uniform. All he needs to do is to open his kind and large heart to accept the ‘other’ uniform as well. That is what the British and the Americans have done by allowing Muslim school girls to use hijab. In contrast, the authorities in Southern Nigeria appear to have established schools exclusively for Christians. All the Muslims are asking for is inclusiveness, a sense of belonging and an end to marginalization.

 

“The Nobel Laureate is the face of education and intellectualism not only in Nigeria but in Africa as a whole and we are all (Muslims and Christians) proud of him. Helen Keller said the highest result of education is tolerance. We want the revered professor of English to set the pace in the integration of Muslims in our society. Muslims are looked upon in Southern Nigeria as outcasts whose way of life should be rejected. That is what refusal to accept hijab means to us. Soyinka should lead the way.

 

“The Nobel Laureate is a widely travelled person. He must be familiar with Liverpool in the United Kingdom. Several Muslim children use Hijab on top of their school uniforms in Archbishop Blanche College (along Smithdan road), King David's College, Blue Coat in Wavertree Belvedere Girls' School, Toxteth, St Hildas and Holly Lodge Girls' School (on Queen's Drive), all in Liverpool City Council. Ditto in Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford, London, Manchester and Rochdale.

“This is the problem with Nigeria. Our political leaders and scholars take breakfast in London, lunch in Virginia, dinner in Scotland. They see trams, trolleys, subways and other modern systems of transportation. But they never think of replicating it in their own country. They see freedom of religion in form of school children using hijab but they will come to Nigeria and oppose hijab because they think Nigerian Muslims are destined to die in colonial bondage.

“Professor Soyinka also said concerning use of hijab in schools, ‘They are equal and they are being encouraged to see one another as human beings, not as separate creatures.

 

“Soyinka’s ‘equal’ status among students is unacceptable to us. Muslim children cannot be ‘equal’ in Christian uniform. This is a subtle way of completing the identity robbery of Muslims in Nigeria. It was Dr. James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey who said, ‘You can play a tune of sorts on the white keys, and you can play a tune of sorts on the black keys. But for harmony you must use both the black and the white.’

 

“So why can’t we have Christian and Muslim children using the same uniforms with matching hijab on the heads of the female Muslim children? Why can’t Muslim children be accepted as Muslims? Why must they appear like Christians before they are warmly received? Why must whole schools be paraded as Christian learning centres?

 

“The picture of Barrack Obama sitting with an American school girl wearing hijab went viral during his administration. There were other students in hijab in the same classroom. That picture sent a strong message to the world. It is only in Southern Nigeria that we want to perpetuate French assimilation method. The rest of the world has moved on. But Nigerians, particularly Southerners, remain glued to colonial mentality.

 

“Even the United Nations condemned French ban on hijab in 2018. The UN committee ruled that France violated an international rights treaty when it banned a woman from wearing hijab while she studied at a school. The UN Human Rights Committee said the ban broke the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/10/1023872; https://www.france24.com/en/20181023-france-un-ban-full-veil-human-rights). Now, is Nigeria not part of the UN? Professor Soyinka is known for his stand on human rights in this country. Is he saying Muslim children should not enjoy human rights?

 

“Soyinka does not want Muslim children to use hijab so that children would not ‘look at one another as different’.  Did God create them equal? Do they have same height, same complexion, same tribal marks? Why don’t the teachers send out the fair-complexioned children and retain only the black ones in the class if we want uniformity? Why is it that the Muslim identity alone is Soyinka’s problem?

 

“These children know themselves and hijab is no problem among them. Children who use hijab and those who do not use it have mixed together singing and laughing. There has never been any report of a clash among students on the issue of hijab.

 

“The Nobel Laureate also added, ‘And I want to be informed if it is against democracy that schools insist that uniforms be worn by children so that they are not distinguished in a very dramatic way. So that they do not look at one another as different.’

 

“Our response to this is capital YES. What is democracy if there is no individual freedom? Kainz defines American form of democracy as a form of government which prides itself on its recognition of and commitment to individual freedoms and personal property rights. The demand for hijab is a civil liberty struggle. But the irony here is that no single human rights lawyer or activist who is a non-Muslim has deemed it fit to add his or her voice to the cries of these innocent little girls. Not even the so-called women liberation groups.

 

“What did Margoli have in mind when he defined democracy as ‘equal opportunity to participate’? Why, then, are Muslims being denied that ‘equal opportunity to participate’ even in the ordinary choice of what our children will wear to school? We should be carried along in matters that affect the morality and dignity of our children. Democracy must be participatory, not exclusive.  

 

“Democracy is not about allowing every man and woman to vote alone. It also has to do with allowing those who want to go to the church or mosque to do so while those who do not want to use Christian uniform are given the freedom to use hijab. Our understanding of the concept of democracy is therefore fraudulent until we widen the scope to include freedom to use hijab in ALL schools, including the so-called Christian schools. You cannot force Christian uniform on Muslim children and claim you are practicing democracy.

 

“That is why Otwin Marenin said democracy exists when the institutions and politics of the society represent the consent and interests of all citizens. Hijab is what the Muslims want but today these Muslims who are not even a minority are being denied by an elitist minority.

 

“Concluding his comment on hijab, Soyinka said, ‘So now I’m talking to religionists. I’m saying why do you want to create such marked differentiation at that age, that impressionable age, when we need to teach our children to look at one another as equals, as the same people, the same entitled creatures of society?’

 

“We affirm that it is ‘that impressionable age’ that is the problem. If Muslim children do not use hijab in their impressionable age, they are not ever likely to use it afterwards. Christian authorities in the schools want to indoctrinate Muslim children against Islam and against the use of hijab at an impressionable age so that it will be difficult for their Muslim parents to re-mould them when they mature.

“The learned professor knows that people can only bend a sapling, not a tree. Muslims are expected to teach their children from childhood. We will not allow Western education to steal our children from us. Even the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) instructed Muslims to ensure that their children are taken to the mosque at seven and to punish them if they fail to pray when they reach the age of ten. It will be difficult for Muslim children to start using hijab at tertiary level if they do not use it at primary and secondary school levels.

“What matters is our mindset. We can inculcate love for our country in our children without everybody wearing a single type of school uniform. What happens during the holidays when the children attend school lessons in the same schools without wearing their school uniforms? Let us borrow a leaf from Max Learner who said, ‘Either men will learn to live like brothers or die like beasts’.

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern,

(MURIC)

 

MURIC TO AMOTEKUN: RESPECT RIGHTS OF ARRESTED NORTHERNERS

 

6^th August, 2022

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC TO AMOTEKUN: RESPECT RIGHTS OF ARRESTED NORTHERNERS

 

An Islamic human rights advocacy group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has advised the South West security outfit, Amotekun, to respect the fundamental human rights of Northern travellers arrested on Tuesday, 2^nd August, 2022. MURIC also asked the authorities of Amotekun to observe professional decorum in the matter and to allow the rule of law to prevail. In addition, the group advised South West governors to strengthen Amotekun and improve the welfare of its operatives.

 

MURIC gave the advice in a statement issued on Saturday, 6^th August, 2022 by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

 

“About 140 Northerners comprising of men, women and children were arrested in Ibadan by the South West security outfit popularly known as Amotekun on Tuesday, 2^nd August, 2022. Reports reaching us indicate that those arrested are still with the Amotekun in Oyo State, under the commandant, Colonel Olayinka Adeyanju.

 

“Yet another report in a leading newspaper today, Saturday, 6^th August, 2022 says 151 travellers coming from Kano, Katsina and Jigawa were also arrested in Ondo State. Among this second group were five women. The commandant of Amotekun in Ondo State, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, confirmed the arrest.

 

“While we acknowledge the right of security outfits to ensure the safety of lives and properties in their areas of jurisdiction, we call attention to the need to observe professional decorum in the matter and to allow the rule of law to prevail. The fundamental human rights of all travellers must also be respected.  

 

“For example, it will appear that fundamental rights have been infringed if those arrested in Ibadan, Oyo State, since Tuesday are still in some detention of any kind. Even the police cannot detain a citizen for more than 24 hours.

 

“Section 23 of the Police Act stipulates that suspects cannot be detained beyond 24 hours after which the person should be charged to court in conformity with the basic constitutional rights of citizens. All arrested Northerners should therefore be granted bail or arraigned in a court of law.

 

“Besides, the offence committed by these Northerners have not been properly explained. Nobody has caught any weapon with them. The main allegation has been that they moved in groups or large number. But if they were travelling in trucks, could they have moved in singles and in twos and threes?

 

“How can you stop a truck loaded with passengers and accuse them of moving in groups? How else could they have moved? Are we saying trucks should not convey more than one or two passengers? Our security outfits should get their acts together. Is it because those people have no money to board commercial cars and luxurious buses?

 

“They may be victims of the violence ravaging the North. The fact that women and children are among them shows that they may be innocent Northerners looking for how to make ends meet. They are already in Yorubaland in their hundreds as gate men, motor cyclists (okada riders), shoe-menders, dustbin carriers, etc. They do menial jobs but that is not a crime.

 

“How many times has Amotekun stopped luxurious buses moving up north or down south from the South East or South South? Security outfits need to be more careful so that they would not be accused of ethnic profiling. Or is that what it really is?

 

“We remind Amotekun and other security outfits that freedom of movement is enshrined in Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which says inter alia, ‘Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof…’

 

“Section 42 of the same Constitution also frowns at stereotyping any tribe or religious group and restricting their movement. It says inter alia: ‘A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, to disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religion or political opinions are not made subject.

“In addition, Article 13 of the United Nations Charter of Human Rights to which Nigeria is a signatory guarantees right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state and to leave and enter one's country.

 

“Nigerians of all ethnicities should therefore be allowed to move freely within the borders of this country without being harassed or intimidated. Only the law breakers should be apprehended and dealt with according to the law of the land. But mere travelling in ‘groups’ is not enough and it is not even an offence. Amotekun should not be too eager to arrest people of certain regions. It is individuals who commit crime, not their tribes.

 

“It amounts to stigmatisation and intimidation. Such action endangers the safety of Yorubas and other Southerners who often travel up North and do business over there. More importantly, this is the wrong time for Yorubas to stereotype Northerners. An ethnic group which has one of its own seeking the highest position in the country cannot afford to turn hostile towards people of another tribe, least of all people from Asiwaju’s support base. The Yorubas need everyone on board in the Asiwaju project.

 

“The security of Yorubaland is of paramount importance just as the security of all other parts of the country. This should not be compromised. At the same time, Yorubaland should not become a persecution ground for other tribes so that Yorubas in other places may not be targeted for retaliatory measures.

 

“We do not support criminality and we want peace everywhere in the country. But our security agents must respect the rule of law as they chase criminals without making innocent people to suffer, without encroaching on Allah-given fundamental rights of any citizen and without focusing on any particular tribe.  

 

“Governments of the South West should strengthen Amotekun in terms of manpower and equipment. Cities are conquered by numbers. Amotekun in the South West needs more men. Their presence should be felt in every corner of Yorubaland.

 

“There should be at least two Amotekun corp members on every street in every city. If the state governments can do this, bandits and terrorists will never be able to torment the South West as they are doing in the North. South West governors must demonstrate the political will to protect their states by spending huge chunks of their security votes on Amotekun.

 

“MURIC is particularly unhappy with the way South West governments relegated the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) to the background since the commencement of Amotekun. OPC was the only indigenous security network that confronted the military junta and secured Yorubaland from marauding armed robbers who tormented citizens every night in those days.

 

“At this juncture, MURIC salutes late Dr. Frederick Fasheun and Aare Gani Adams for their efforts in founding and sustaining the security organization. This is the time OPC should be compensated but what do we see? South West governments now prioritise the possession of academic certificates in the recruitment of Amotekun members. It is saddening. State governments in Yorubaland should recruit OPC members in large numbers and let the citizens see them on every street. Security is serious business. It is not a tea party.”

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern,

(MURIC)

 

 

RETURN OF SCHOOLS: MURIC GIVES MAKINDE QUIT NOTICE

 

5^th August, 2022

PRESS RELEASE:

RETURN OF SCHOOLS: MURIC GIVES MAKINDE QUIT NOTICE

 

An Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has given the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, notice to quit government house by 2023. The quit notice was handed over to the governor over his plan to return schools to missionaries which was announced yesterday.

 

The quit notice was contained in a press statement issued by the director of MURIC on Friday, 5^th August, 2022.

 

The statement reads:

 

“Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State yesterday announced his plan to return public schools to missionaries. We receive this announcement with a pinch of salt. It is a blow below the belt. It is arbitrary, a betrayal of trust and a most provocative move. Coming at a time Muslim liberation struggle is at its peak, the move is most unwise, audacious and insensitive. It had better not be. Makinde should perish the thought.

 

“The governor is acting the script written by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). It will fail. Those schools are our common patrimony. He cannot give them out just like that after government has spent billions of Oyo State tax payers’ money on adding more, renovating, purchasing equipment and maintaining the infrastructure, paying teachers’ salaries, etc for more than 50 years.

 

“The idea is to perpetuate the suppression of Muslim children in public schools by claiming that the schools belong to missionaries. These are neo-imperialists seeking all means to remain relevant, powerful and dominant.

 

“Yet the so-called missionary schools were built on land belonging to our Muslim forefathers who were deceived by the Christian colonialists into giving out the land ‘gratis’ in most cases. Apart from the land which was given free, our Muslim forefathers also paid tax into the coffers of the colonialists to build the schools. Nobody should try to pull the wool over our eyes. The difference between the colonial government and the missionaries is like six and half dozen. Peter was robbed to pay Paul. The colonialists collected our hard-earned money and gave the missionaries.

 

“It was the mother of all treacheries when the colonialists gave the schools missionary names after completing the buildings. Not only that, they turned round to bite the finger that fed them by rejecting Muslim children who refused to change their names to Christian nomenclatures. Majority of the Muslims had to succumb. Thus Abdul Rasheed became Richard, Yusuf became Joseph, Ishaq became Isaac and Maryam became Mary.

 

“Anybody who observes the trajectory of Makinde’s administration will know that he came with the sole agenda of subjugating Muslims in Oyo State to the whims and caprices of CAN. But the Muslims of Oyo State will resist this with every legitimate means at their disposal.

 

“There must be consequences for irresponsible and reckless leadership. There will be peaceful rallies and protests until Makinde rescinds his decision. The Muslim youths in the state have taken Makinde’s plan to return schools to missionaries as a confrontation. Already, the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) has fired the first salvo. Makinde has miscalculated. He assumes that his very few contract-seeking Muslim business partners control the Muslim community of Oyo State. He will soon know the truth.

 

“Makinde is in the habit of snatching from the Muslims what belongs to them. Yet he wants Muslims in the state to continue to cooperate with his administration. He lives in self-delusion with his divide et impera as he hoodwinks an infinitesimal minority of Muslim dealers and ignores the real Muslim leaders. With this ill-advised announcement, he has betrayed those few stomach-infrastructure Muslim dealers who always claimed they needed to be near the governor.

 

“Makinde will soon know his fate. Muslims will teach him an electoral lesson. We expect Oyo governors to take a cue from what happened to Bola Ige in 1983. Nobody plays with Muslim interest in Oyo State and gets away with it.

 

“Makinde started by toying with the Hijrah holiday which his Muslim predecessor (ex-governor Ajimobi) gave us. He also refused to issue any circular on hijab to date. He marooned his Muslim deputy governor for three good years until the latter was eventually impeached and replaced with a Muslim-by-name deputy. Seyi Makinde’s anti-Muslim agenda cannot stomach the idea of a genuine Muslim deputy governor.

 

“We hereby give the ‘Eleyi of Agodi’ notice to quit Agodi Government House come 29^th May, 2023. The Muslim dealers masquerading as Muslim leaders and romancing with our traducers for contracts will not be able to save him. Makinde’s days in government house are numbered. He has murdered sleep. From this day to 29^th May, 2023, Makinde shall sleep no more. We advise him to start loading his back-pack with his most essential commodities from today.

 

“MURIC calls on Muslims in Oyo State to possess their possession. We shall all face Allah Yawm al-Qiyamah to report what we did for Islam and the Muslims. How did we meet the Ummah of Muhammad (SAW) and how did we leave it? It is time for Oyo Muslims to decide whether they want freedom or slavery. Those who do not respect and preserve our spiritual heritage must not be allowed to rule us. Makinde must not be allowed to stay in Agodi Government House a day beyond 29^th May, 2023.”

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern,

(MURIC)

 

TEXT OF PRESS CONFERENCE ON FALSE CLAIMS BY CHRISTIAN LEADERS

 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

(Motto: Dialogue, Not Violence)

Address: No. 5, Oba Ayoka Street, Off LASU-Igando Road, Off Iba Junction, near Iba LG Office, Iba, Lagos State.      Tel. 08033464974, 09074524976

Email: muslimrights@gmail.com      Website: www.muricnigeria.com

 

PRESS CONFERENCE ON FALSE CLAIMS BY CHRISTIAN LEADERS THAT IT IS ONLY CHRISTIANS THAT ARE BEING KILLED IN NIGERIA ORGANISED BY THE MUSLIM RIGHTS CONCERN (MURIC), HELD AT MURIC HEADQUARTERS, IBA, LAGOS STATE ON THURSDAY, 4^TH AUGUST, 2022 

 

Distinguished Leaders of Islamic organisations,

Brothers and Sisters in Islam,

Members of MURIC here present …Greatest Muricians!

Gentlemen of the Press

 

As-Salaam Alaykunm wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu

 

It gives me immense pleasure to rub minds with you on false claims emanating from Christian leaders in Nigeria that Christians are the only ones being killed in this country. They exposed their bad intention towards their Muslim neighbours when they did not stop at lying within the boarders of Nigeria but went as far as the United States of America to pour venom on their compatriots and demarket their own country in a most unpatriotic and uncharitable manner.

Misled by the false stories, five American senators recently asked the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to re-label Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC). Earlier in 2020, the US had listed Nigeria among countries blacklisted for “violating religious freedom” under the CPC designation. Nigeria was, however, removed from the list in November 2021.

It is noteworthy that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) rejected this delisting. It demanded that Nigeria should be relisted as one of the countries violating religious freedom. CAN continued to pursue this ignoble agenda from November 2021 by lobbying powerful US politicians until five US senators swallowed its bait, hook, line and sinker.

As a result of this, the five US senators, namely, Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio, Mike Braun, James Inhofe and Tom Cotton addressed a letter to the US Secretary of State dated June 29, 2022 alleging that “Mere expression of one’s Christian faith has become tantamount to a death sentence in many parts of Nigeria”.

 

They added that more than 4,650 Nigerian Christians were killed for their faiths in 2021, that Nigeria has for the second consecutive year been the deadliest country on earth for Christians, that the Nigerian government is failing to protect the religious freedom and safety of its Christian citizens and that Nigerian government directly participated in the persecution of Christians through blasphemy laws.

 

We are asking where this statistics came from. We are asking who counted the 4,650 dead bodies, where, when and how? While it is true that Nigeria has had serious security challenges in the past two years (2021 and 2022), it has been tough for all citizens. Muslims, Christians and animists have faced daunting security challenges but it is the Muslims in the North who have been killed the most and kidnapped in their hundreds.

 

To claim that the Nigerian Government is failing to protect the religious freedom of its Christian citizens is a shameless attempt to upturn the facts of history. Millions of Muslims live under duress, intimidation and harassment in Southern Nigeria where Christian governors and government officials openly dehumanize Muslims and deprive them of their Allah-given fundamental human rights.

 

Female Muslim students are locked out of schools merely for manifesting their Islamic faith by using hijab. Eminently qualified Muslims are denied employment unless they converted to Christianity. Political appointments are anathema for Muslims in Southern Nigeria under Christian governors.

 

It must be noted that only one state has a Muslim governor out of the seventeen states in Southern Nigeria and Muslims live under religious apartheid in all the sixteen states controlled by Christians. So which government are the US senators referring to as violators of religious freedom? We assume that a critical, holistic and comprehensive assessment will be objective here. Selective appraisal will do justice and fairness no good.

 

Those who speak of blasphemy laws also need to contextualise their assertion. Which blasphemy law and which government? Federal or state? Just like in the US, Nigerian states have their own legal peculiarities based on the heterogeneity of our polity. It will be unfair and even naïve of the US senators to judge the Federal Government of Nigeria by the actions or legislations of any of its states. Yet Christian leaders who take such reports to US politicians know the truth of the matter. They are just being deliberately malicious by not putting information in its proper perspective.  

 

MURIC frowns at the lopsided composition of Nigerians invited to the 2nd Annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington DC on June 28-30, 2022. Information available to us reveals that only the Sultan of Sokoto was officially invited and he was represented by Professor Usman Yusuf.

 

On the Christian side and from Nigeria alone, at the event were the immediate past President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Samson Olasupo Adeniyi Ayokunle, Bishop Sunday Onuoha, Methodist Bishop and co-chair of Inter-faith Dialogue Forum, Ms. Anne Marie Briggs, John Joseph Hayab, Kaduna State Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria and Ms. Sarafina N'kenta. The delegation was heavily skewed in favour of Nigerian Christians.

 

Expectedly, Muslim-bashing reigned supreme at the event. Nigerian Christians hammered on “terrorist Fulanis and Kanuris” who are systematically targeting and killing Nigerian Christians and armed Muslim militia who are deliberately targeting Christians and Churches with full complicity of the government.

 

Yet they knew in their hearts that most of the victims of terrorist attacks are Muslims and that the number of mosques destroyed by the terrorists is higher than that of churches. Boko Haram in particular has killed, maimed and displaced more Muslims than Christians, more Muslim clerics and more Muslim traditional rulers have been killed or kidnapped than Christians. 

 

Most importantly, more Muslim majority states are under siege by these terrorists than Christian majority states while more Nigerian Muslims have been impoverished by insecurity than Christians. Insecurity in Nigeria has had greater impact on Muslims more than Christians but our Christian neighbours are standing history on its head.

 

ATTACKS ON MUSLIMS AND THEIR MOSQUES BY TERRORISTS:

 

Attacks directed at Muslims and their mosques by Boko Haram and other terrorists are too many to recount. But permit us to mention just a few, with references for the purpose of credibility:

1.    Kano Central Mosque was bombed by Boko Haram on 28^th November, 2014. The attack claimed the lives of more than 200 Muslims with more than 160 wounded. The attack occurred (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/bomb-blasts-kill-200-kano-central-mosque/; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-3026686;).

2.    86 Muslims were killed when Boko Haram insurgents bombed a mosque at Mubi, Adamawa State on 1^st May, 2018 (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/5/2/nigeria-mosque-attack-death-toll-rises-to-86).

3.    75 elderly Muslims were killed by Boko Haram in Gworza on January 31, 2016 (https://www.dailysabah.com/world/africa/75-elders-killed-in-boko-haram-attack-in-northeastern-nigeria).

4.    A fully loaded bus was ambushed by bandits in Sokoto, the bus was set on fire and all the 42 Muslim passengers were burnt to death (https://www.capitalpost.ng/2021/12/bandits-set-bus-loaded-with-passengers-on-fire-in-sokoto-42-feared-dead/).

5.    On 30^th January 2016, at least 85 Muslims lost their lives in Dalori, on the outskirts of Maiduguri when Boko Haram attacked the city (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Dalori_attack).

 

HOW CHRISTIANS HAVE BEEN KILLING MUSLIMS IN NIGERIA :

 

Nigerian Christians have launched premeditated and well-coordinated attacks on Muslims on several occasions. We will mention a few of such incidents of cold-blooded killing:

1.    More than 200 Muslims were mercilessly massacred and their dead bodies eaten up in a cannibal feast in Jos, Plateau State on Monday, 29^th August, 2011 (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-violence-jos idUSTRE77S6Q520110829; https://www.nairaland.com/863573/cannibalization-muslims-jos-video-where; https://pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/09/14/jos-christians-are-to-blame-for-the-killings/)

2.    Five buses loaded with Muslims returning to Ondo State were blockaded at Rukuba, Jos in Plateau State by the notorious Irigwe Christian militia group resulting in the killing of 22 innocent Muslims while 16 were seriously wounded (https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/479206-how-22-travellers-were-killed-in-plateau-police.html; https://dailypost.ng/2021/08/15/islamic-group-accuses-christian-militia-of-carrying-out-plateau-killings-slams-lalong/).

3.    Christian Jarawas and Sayawas killed more than 400 Hausa-Fulani Muslims in Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi State, between June and July, 2001. About 22,000 Muslims were displaced and till today, the Christians of Tafawa Balewa have not allowed a single Muslim to enter the city (https://reliefweb.int/report/nigeria/nigeria-renewed-christian-muslim-clashes-claim-lives)

4.    Many Fulani herders have been beheaded in South Eastern Nigeria. Their cattle are often killed, their huts burnt while they are usually chased out of the south east just because they are Muslims (https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/05/10/attacks-on-herders-in-south-east-threat-to-2023-elections-miyetti-allah-warns/; https://punchng.com/govt-should-deal-with-terrorists-killing-fulani-herders-in-south-east-miyetti-allah/)

5.    Suya sellers who are traditionally Hausa people are killed in barbaric manner in the same South East because they are Muslims and Northerners (https://punchng.com/killing-of-seven-suya-sellers-in-imo-attempt-to-provoke-ethnic-clashes-hausa-community-leader/; https://nationaldailyng.com/gunmen-open-fire-on-igbo-hausa-suya-sellers-kill-3/; https://www.nairaland.com/7139829/unknown-gunmen-machetes-suya-seller; https://neptuneprime.com.ng/2022/05/23/suspected-esn-ipob-gunmen-kill-suya-seller-in-anambra-offer-free-suya-to-villagers/;

6.    Yet the most barbaric was the killing of an 8-month pregnant woman, Harirah Jubril, a Muslim Fulani woman from Adamawa state who was brutally gunned down with her four hijab-wearing female children by the Igbo separatist armed group, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) while waiting for a bus in Isulo Orumba North Local Government Area, Anambra State (https://saharareporters.com/2022/05/25/pregnant-woman-harira-four-children-murdered-gunmen-buried-anambra).

7.    An army general, Idris Alkali was killed in Jos, Plateau State on 3^rd September, 2018 because he was a Muslim. His body was dumped inside a deep well in Plateau State. Several vehicles which laid beneath the pond in which his car was found led observers to conclude that hundreds of Muslims killed at blockades in Jos had been made to disappear in the same manner (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/10/breaking-army-discovers-body-of-missing-general-alkali/).

 

DISPLAY OF IMPUNITY BY CHRISTIAN RULERS AND AUTHORITIES:

 

Nothing encourages lawlessness, recklessness and criminality like impunity. Christian governors and Christian authorities have manifested impunity in Nigeria with reckless abandon. A few examples will suffice:

 

1.    Contrary to Section 10 of the Nigerian Constitution, a Governor from the South South, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, declared his state a Christian state and demolished mosques (https://punchng.com/rivers-is-a-christian-state-wike-insists/; https://www.thecable.ng/video-wike-lied-he-demolished-my-mosque-says-asari).

2.    Joshua Dariye as governor of Plateau State declared in January 2002 that he was determined to make the state the centre and pillar of Christianity in Nigeria, contrary to extant laws (https://allafrica.com/stories/200201210086.html).

3.    Female Muslim students are robbed of their religious identity as they are forced to wear Christian school uniforms after being disallowed from wearing hijab in schools in Southern Nigeria, including the South West where Muslims are a majority ruled by an elitist Christian minority (https://guardian.ng/features/nigerian-schools-in-the-throes-of-hijab-crisis/; https://saharareporters.com/2022/02/05/we-will-not-allow-hijab-mission-schools-kwara-christian-association-insists; https://dailypost.ng/2018/11/15/breaking-hijab-wearing-female-students-bar-ui-school-photos/https://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/appeal-court-lifts-ban-hijab-lagos-public-schools/; https://guardian.ng/news/supreme-court-approves-wearing-of-hijab-in-lagos-schools/).

 

NIGERIAN CHRISTIAN LEADERS ARE MERCHANTS OF LIES, DECEIT AND FALSEHOOD:

 

We assert clearly and unequivocally that Christian leaders are adept at misleading their followers and leaders of Western countries with lies, deception and falsehood. We have enough antecedents to prove this assertion.

 

In the first instance, Pastor Olatoke of Baptist Church, Ikonifin, Osun State instructed his followers to disguise as Boko Haram and to invade his own church in an attempt to launch false Boko Haram attack in the State. Muslims living in Osun State would have been accused of staging this false attack if it had succeeded.

 

He conspired with three people who disguised like Muslims with turbans which covered half of their faces. They stormed the church during the church service held on Sunday 18^th May, 2014 and threw banga and other fireworks which sounded like gunfire thus scaring all the worshippers who thought they were real Boko Haram insurgents. The worshippers took to their heels, running helter skelter to save their lives. Many of them were injured. The pretenders then jumped on their getaway motorcycles and sped off into the dark night.

 

Unfortunately for them the ‘attackers’ were stopped at a roadblock mounted by vigilant youths of the community who heard the explosions. That was when they confessed that they were recruited by their pastor to stage the ‘drama’. The case was reported at Bode Osi Police Station, near Iwo.

 

It is noteworthy that the pastor in question, Pastor Olatoke, was also the chairman of CAN in Ola Oluwa Local Government. His comrades in deception were three members of his church, namely, Emmanuel Atanda, Peter Oyedepo and Ogunniyi Babatope. Christian leaders are pathological fabricators of mirages.

 

This story is instructive as it reveals the way Christians launch false attacks with the aim of blaming Muslims for them. So how can anyone, least of all the greatest democracy in the world, believe stories peddled by such pretenders? (https://dailytrust.com/story-of-osun-pastor-who-impersonated-boko-haram; https://www.informationng.com/2014/05/islamic-group-reacts-to-fake-boko-haram-attack-in-osun.html)

 

In the second example, the same leader of Christian groups in Northern Nigeria who was part of the Christian delegation to the 2nd Annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington DC on June 28-30, 2022, specifically Rev. Joseph John Hayab, was the one who tried to deceive Nigerians by claiming that a terrorist who attempted to bomb the Living Faith Church on Sunday, 2^nd February, 2020, was a Muslim whereas he was a Christian.

 

Both the Nigerian Police, the accused himself and the father of the accused later confirmed that the terrorist’s name was Nathaniel Samuel, a confirmed church-goer. This incident is verifiable. MURIC does not fabricate stories. (https://guardian.ng/life/nigerians-react-to-the-news-of-nathaniel-samuels-attempted-suicide bombing/#:~:text=NATHANIEL%20Samuel%2C%20the%20Christian%20young,to%20bomb%20a%20COCIN%20church; https://dailypost.ng/2020/02/04/living-faith-church-bomber-nathaniel-samuel-not-first-christian-terrorist-in-nigeria-buharis-aide-onochie/; https://dailytrust.com/kaduna-bomb-scare-nathaniel-samuel-is-a-christian-not-muslim-suspects-father).

 

 

The third example shows how Christians of Plateau State went out of their way to prevent troops of the Nigerian Army from discovering the body of a Muslim army general, Idris Alkali who was murdered by them. The body of the Muslim army general Alkali was dumped inside a deep well in Plateau State but Christian women demonstrated half naked at the site to prevent soldiers from conducting searches. Plateau State government later apologised on behalf of its Christian population. People who can stage such ridiculous hocus pocus cannot be relied upon for sincerity and credibility. Why is the US believing hypocrites? (https://dailypost.ng/2018/09/21/women-protest-nude-attack-army-searching-mysterious-pond-plateau-community-missing-general/).

 

Yet the state governor exposed his complicity in the whole abracadabra when he apologized after the army found the general’s corpse in the same vicinity after the search (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/11/alkalis-death-lalong-begs-army-to-forgive-plateau-people/?utm_source=headtopics&utm_medium=news&utm_campaign=2018-11-05; https://www.herald.ng/muric-flays-gov-lalong-for-begging-the-army/; ).

 

Lalong as a Christian governor was simply fulfilling his predecessor’s pledge. It will be recalled that the former governor of the state, Joshua Dariye, had pledged publicly that he would make Plateau ‘the centre and pillar’ of Christianity in Nigeria (https://allafrica.com/stories/200201210086.html). Such declarations had been interpreted by Christians in the state to mean that Muslims had become legitimate targets for cannibalism, emboldened attacks on innocent Muslims and turned the Middle Belt region into an extended graveyard for Muslim personalities.  

 

The fourth example of deceptions by Christian leaders is very fresh as it occurred barely two weeks ago. Bishops who attended the unveiling of the vice-presidential candidate of a Nigerian political party were labelled ‘fake, carpenters and artisans’ by Christian leaders simply because leaders of CAN had opposed a Muslim-Muslim ticket and instructed its followers to distance themselves from the party and its activities.

 

However, investigations proved that the bishops and pastors who attended the event were genuine Christian clerics. They came out a few days later and addressed the press, daring CAN leaders to challenge them. This proves beyond any scintilla of   doubt that Nigeria’s Christian leaders are a bunch of liars and interlopers. Why must any religious leader lead his followers with lies?  (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/07/alleged-fake-bishops-at-shettimas-unveiling-kick-present-proofs-of-ordination/).

 

The whipping up of anti-Muslim emotions gave rise to the demonisation of the Muslim faith as well as the mythical Islamisation and Fulanisation claims. Another fallout of this mirage is the emergence of the phenomenon of Southern Christians disguising as Hausa-Fulani while committing crime, thus making it impossible to believe every allegation of criminal behaviour levelled at Fulani and Hausa people.

 

This development led to the fifth example of areas of Christian deception. Three Christians from Southern Kaduna disguised as Fulani herdsmen to cause mayhem which they intend to hang on the necks of Muslims later.  (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/11/suspected-robber-who-disguises-as-herdsman-arrested-in-ogun/; https://www.thecable.ng/police-ekiti-resident-who-impersonates-herdsmen-arrested-for-kidnapping; https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/04/police-edo-arrest-28-suspected-kidnappers-robber-cultists/).

 

Yet there is a sixth dimension to this Jekyll and Hyde Christian modus operandi. Muslim children are being kidnapped particularly from the North and taken either to the South East or to the Middle Belt in acts of desperation aimed at conversion of underaged Muslim children to Christianity (https://dailytrust.com/amp/kano-parents-demand-release-of-47-additional-abducted-kids; https://kanofocus.com/2019/10/18/converting-kano-children-to-christians-meant-to-obliterate-their-lineage-jni/; https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/nwest/436088-just-in-seven-kidnapped-children-from-kano-found-in-anambra-enugu-official.html; https://muslimnews.com.ng/2022/07/02/shocking-days-after-21-quranic-students-freed-from-ecwa-church-police-rescue-50-children-from-church-cell-in-ondo/). We leave the American public to decide whether it is ethical to abduct little children from other religions for forceful conversion to Christianity.

 

“Whereas Paul says, ‘Do not lie to one another’ (Colossians 3:9-10). Christian leaders find it expedient to pour torrents of lies on their followers. CAN leaders wilfully ignore the warning in Proverbs, ‘…He who breathes out lies will perish’ (Proverbs 19:9). CAN leaders are not walking their talk. Neither are they following the teachings of the Bible.

 

NIGERIAN MUSLIMS CONDEMN TERRORISM:

 

Nigerian Muslims do not support criminal groups. They do not represent us. We reject them. True Muslims respect humanity. We are prepared to peacefully coexist with our Christian neighbours and we have done so for decades before the marauding Boko Haram gangs came barely fifteen years ago. They do not have our consent.

 

Neither does the Nigerian government support them and this explains why they have been outlawed and declared terrorists. In fact, the latest attack by ISWAP on the convoy of President Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim president, speaks volumes on the intentions of ISWAP and Boko Haram as well as the non-complicity of President Buhari (https://guardian.ng/news/buharis-advance-convoy-attacked-in-katsina/).

 

Nigerian Muslims do not support terrorists. They do not have our consent. Therefore no act of terror committed by them should be attributed to Muslims. Also, against the background that Muslims constitute majority of the victims of terrorism, it will be unfair to blame the same Muslim victims for the atrocities of terrorists. It stands in contradistinction to the laws of natural justice.

 

But should a country as advanced and as civilised as the US allow itself to be led by the nose by such people? That is the question. Whether the US and other Western countries should jettison objectivity and allow sentiments and lies to take the driving seat in the process of their decision making is left to be decided only by the West itself.

 

We strongly suspect that Republican insurrectionists were behind the memorandum of US Senators. Unfortunately that memo is a plethora of lies from the pit of Jahannam itself. We know Americans are champions of democracy and lovers of freedom. Therefore, they will not allow themselves to be deceived by anti-Islam Republicans and enemies of democracy who had demonstrated their stock in trade by starting their administration with banning citizens of Muslim countries from travelling to America.

 

The US should not encourage Nigerian Christians who are entangled in a cobweb of entitlement syndrome. Christian leaders are taking advantage of the precarious security situation in Nigeria which has been compounded by the Libya factor.

 

CROWD TARGET MENTALITY OF BANDITS:

 

Attacks on churches and mosques as well as schools, buses and trains explains the ‘crowd mentality’ of Nigerian terrorists’. They are attacking such places not for religious reasons but in order to kidnap as many people as possible for ransom. They are targeting places where people assemble in large number. When bandits stop a train or a vehicle, or when they enter a village, they don’t ask about anyone’s religion. They just pack as many people as they can conveniently take away.

 

Terrorists are like pandemics. They seek the largest concentration of targets. The more the number of captives the higher the ransom. It is for pecuniary benefits. Terrorists do not discriminate between Christians and Muslims or between churches and mosques.

 

Perhaps it will be easier to understand the reason behind their quest for money at all cost if people can remember where they are coming from. The Libyan factor readily comes to mind. Many of the commanders of ISWAP and Boko Haram had served as mercenaries in Libya and the collapse of the Ghadafi regime without an alternative arrangement in place ignited a southward drift to West African countries. It also caused a proliferation of dangerous weapons south of the Sahara.

 

DATA ON KILLING OF MUSLIMS BY TERRORISTS:

 

We challenge the data where the US senators claimed that 4,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria as at 2021 while ignoring more than 40,000 Muslims who had been killed at the same period. Christian leaders are simply capitalising on the enormity of the security challenge facing Nigeria.

 

But the fact remains that 90% of the victims of Boko Haram and ISWAP are Muslims and the operations of these terrorist groups are mainly restricted to the North where Muslims are the majority. Therefore, Muslims constitute majority of the victims of violence in Nigeria. No data can dispute that even if it is from a satellite operating on Jupiter.

 

The reason killing of Christians appear more pronounced is due to difference in burial culture. Nigerian Christians display bodies of their victims and may even delay their burial for days, if not months while Muslims bury their victims almost immediately without any fuss. It is photo trick and camera magic that egg on emotions.  

According to the AlJazira network news, we can confirm that more than 20,000 people have been killed in the Boko Haram insurgency that began in 2009, which has also forced some two million to flee their homes (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/5/2/nigeria-mosque-attack-death-toll-rises-to-86). Relief workers who visit camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) can confirm that 95% of IDPs are Muslims.

1,854 Muslims were killed in Plateau State between 1994 and 2011 (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/12/a-cycle-of-reprisals-turns-jos-into-killing-field/; Amnesty International, “More than 1,500 Killed in Armed Conflict in North-Eastern Nigeria in Early 2014,” March 2014, https://www.amnesty.org.uk/sites/default/files/nigeria__more_than_1500_killed_in_armed_conflict_0.pdf. 9)

 

Boko Haram killed thirty seven thousand, five hundred (37,500) persons from 2015 to 2018. Of this figure, thirty two thousand (32,000) were  Muslims while five thousand, five hundred (5,500) were Christians. This means that 85% of those killed were Muslims. Mosques have been bombed or burned. Imams, Shaykhs and emirs have been abducted and killed. But CAN still wants to deceive the world by claiming that it is Christians alone who are being killed in Nigeria. CAN has lost all credibility.

 

Boko Haram killed the Emir of Gwoza, Alhaji Idrissa Timta on 30^th May, 2014 (https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/161743-boko-haram-killed-emir-gwoza-borno-government.html; https://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/05/boko-haram-attacks-three-emirs-kills-one/). Boko Haram terrorists claimed responsibility for the killing of the popular Shaykh Muhammad Auwal Adam ‘Albani’ of Zaria, head of the Salafists along with his wife and 18-year-old son on 3^rd February, 2014 (https://www.blueprint.ng/how-we-killed-albani-suspects/; Salisu Bala, “Salafi Targets for ‘Boko Haram’: The Murder of Shaykh Muhammad Auwal Adam ‘Albani’ Zaria,” Annual Review of Islam in Africa 12/1 (2013–2014) pages 31–38).

 

In 2013, Boko Haram attempted to kill both Emir Ado Bayero and Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/01/4-killed-as-gunmen-attack-emir-of-kano/; See also Will Ross, “Nigeria: Kano Reels after Emir Attack,” BBC News, February 7, 2013). The same Boko Haram insurgents made an attempt on the life of the Shehu of Borno on 13^th July, 2013 (http://www.thisdaylive.com/ articles/shehu-of-borno-dep-gov-escape-death-in-suicide-bomb-blast/119979/57). Boko Haram also killed a notable Islamic cleric, Shaykh Adamu Misira along with scores of his followers at Nafada, Gombe State, on 5^th November, 2014  (“Boko Haram Kills Scores, Islamic Cleric in Nafada,” The Sun, November 5, 2014, http://sunnewsonline.com/new/bokoharam-kills-scores-islamic-cleric-in-nafada/).

.

Is any of the above prominent personalities a Christian? Terrorists are killing emirs, Shaykhs and Islamic clerics. But CAN is telling the world that terrorists are killing Christians only. Terrorists are destroying mosques and killing the Muslim worshippers inside in their hundreds. Yet Nigerian Christian leaders say only churches are being attacked. It is absolutely absurd and incomprehensible.

 

We urge Nigerian Christians to disregard CAN’s false allegation and incitement. It has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that CAN is a lying cartel. If CAN has lied more than once, it can lie again. Interestingly there is evidence that CAN has lied seven times and here is the list of CAN’s can of worms: (1) Osun fake Boko Haram attack orchestrated by CAN chairman in Ola Oluwa Local Government, Osun State; (2) Plateau CAN chapter tried to use women demonstrating half naked to deceive soldiers searching for the body of General Alkali; (3) three Christians from Southern Kaduna disguised as Fulani herdsmen to cause mayhem; (4) CAN said the terrorist who tried to bomb COCIN church was a Muslim but the terrorist turned out to be a Christian and member of the church; (5) Muslim kids are kidnapped to Christian territories for secret conversion; (6) CAN said bishops who attended the unveiling of Shettima are fake but it was later proved that they were real and (7) their claim that it is only Christians that bandits are kidnapping and terrorists are killing is the seventh lie. CAN has lied seven times!

 

It was Stephen King who said, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me a third time, shame on both of us.” Neither Nigerian Christians nor US leaders should allow Nigeria’s deceitful religious leaders to hoodwink them anymore. The Americans in particular should remember the words on marble from Abraham Lincoln, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”

Those who have lied to us, not once, not twice, not even three times but SEVEN times are not worthy of our attention. The intention of those false allegations is to incite Nigerians particularly the Christians among us against a Muslim leader and eventually to cause religious war in Nigeria. Let us remember that no African country will contain us if we destroy our country. Remember the humongous humanitarian crisis which included hunger, starvation and widespread disease caused by the wars in Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Sudan, Eritrea, etc. The main enemies of Nigerians are those who travel to Western countries to spread false and malicious information.

 

There is no iota of doubt that there are good Christians in Nigeria. We call on the good ones to stop this charade by their leaders. We can live together in love and harmony. We love our Christian neighbours. We as Muslims are committed to peaceful coexistence but on the basis of equality and fairness, without intimidation or harassment and definitely without blackmail. We cherish human dignity and we have respect for human life. Our advice to the new president of CAN is to tow the path of truth and patriotism for the sake of the survival of our dear country, Nigeria.

 

Long Live Nigeria.

God Bless Nigeria. God Bless America.

Greatest Muricians! Greatest Muricians! Greatest of the Greatest of the Greaaaaaaaaat!!!

 

Gentlemen of the press, thank you for your time.

 

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern,

(MURIC)