16th March, 2020
PRESS RELEASE:
MURIC FAULTS OODUA GROUP ON SANUSI
A
Yoruba socio-cultural group, the Apapo Oodua Koya (AOKOYA) on Sunday 15th
March, 2020, asked deposed Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who arrived
Lagos on Saturday, to return to the North (https://thesourceng.com/oodua-group-asks-sanusi-to-return-to-the-north-says-presence-in-lagos-plot-to-build-fulani-emirate-in-yorubaland/).
Sanusi
was deposed on Monday, 9th March, 2020 by the Governor of Kano, Abdullahi
Umar Ganduje. He was thereafter banished to Awe in Nasarawa State. An Abuja
court on Friday 13th March, 2020 quashed his banishment and he moved
to Lagos immediately.
Meanwhile
an Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has
faulted the stand of AOKOYA. MURIC described AOKOYA’s position as mean, callous
and inhuman. The Muslim group made this known in a statement circulated on
Monday, 16th March, 2020 by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
“We are perturbed by the position of
Apapo Oodua Koya. They are asking the deposed Emir who took refuge in Lagos to
go back to the North. It is mean, callous and inhuman. That statement is
egregious, detestable and nauseating. It smirks of heartlessness, intolerance
and gymnastic irredentism. Worse still, it stands in contradistinction to the
concept of Omoluabi (meaning well trained in good morals) of which the Yoruba
have been well known for ages.
“We
remind those behind AOKOYA that Yorubas are equally scattered across Nigeria.
They should be wary of actions and utterances capable of inciting other tribes
against the Yoruba in other places. This is the time for Yoruba leaders to
caution extremist groups in their midst.
“AOKOYA
also claimed that the ex-Emir was in Lagos to establish another Fulani Emirate
in Yorubaland. Nothing could be more laughable. It is kindergarten, base and
pedestrian reasoning. As an intellectually endowed race in this country, we
expect that the Yoruba do not need to appeal to primordial sentiments. They are
above it. They should therefore purge themselves of elements capable of
whipping up irrational, illogical and unacceptable ideas.
“We
also remind people in the South West in particular and across Nigeria in
general that Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
guarantees freedom of movement as well as freedom to reside in any part of the
country. The section says, ‘Every
citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside
in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria
or refused entry thereto or exit therefrom’
“We therefore call
on the government of Lagos State to provide adequate security and comfort for
the former emir just as it has always done for all its citizens. We advise the
Yoruba group to distance itself from acrobatic xenophobia and to learn the arts
of courtesy, civility and kindness. It must add a human face to activism. We
have no scintilla of doubt that no true Omoluabi will reject a guest in a
period of travail.
“The Yoruba race is
one of the most accommodating on the African continent. This informs the
popular Yoruba proverb ‘Oju alejo ni a ti nya owo, eyin re la nsan’,
meaning, we can borrow money in the presence of a guest (to entertain him) and
pay back after he has left. This proverb provides indisputable testimony to the
uncommon hospitality of the Yoruba race. Yoruba leaders of today must not allow
merchants of aggravated ethnicity to tarnish this good image.”
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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