MUSLIM RIGHTS CONCERN (MURIC)
OGUN STATE CHAPTER
هيئة حقوق المسلمين
Motto: Dialogue, Not Violence
Date : Friday
16th of December, 2022
D.S.S INVITATION TO
AKINTOLA: MURIC OGUN CHAPTER DEMANDS WRITTEN INVITATION
The attention of the
Ogun State Chapter of MURIC has been drawn to the recent invitations by the
department of State Security Service at Ibadan, Oyo State, which can be described
as in terrorem through ex cathedra of the state.
This was contained in
a statement issued by the State Chairman of MURIC in Ogun State, Alhaji
Tajudeen Jimoh Alao and the State Secretary, Mr Olaleye Rasheed Damilare on
Friday,16th of December,2022.
The message reads,
"We are particularly disturbed by the insistence of the officers of Oyo
State D.S.S Office that Professor Ishaq Akintola, the director of MURIC,
must report to their office in Ibadan, Oyo State, for questioning despite
Professor Akintola's poor health which he explained to the DSS. Although the
caller agreed that our director could report in their office within one week,
we still find this disturbing because they refused to tell him his
offence."
Our guess is that he
is being invited in connection with a press release of Monday, 6th of December,
2022 in which MURIC cautioned Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State against the
repression of Muslim students and teachers who were forced to sing Christmas
carol in St.Annes School 1 senior, St Annes School 2, and St Annes Junior
school, Molete, Ibadan.
In the statement,
MURIC asked Muslims in the state to vote out Makinde in the coming election in
the State.
MURIC repeated in the
statement that it is not averse to having a christain Governor as
long as the governor is just to all and as long as he respects the rights of
all.
If for this the D.S.S.
in Oyo State is now being used as a tool to intimidate, harass, distract and
silence MURIC, we alert Nigerians to the emerging tyranny in Oyo State.
Professor Ishaq Akintola is a law abiding citizen of this country. We are not
aware of any crime that he has ever committed.
MURIC refuses to be
distracted and intimidated for speaking in the interest of Nigerian Muslims.
After all, we have videos of pastors who have uttered incriminating and
provocative statements on the 2023 elections and nothing has happened to
them.
Ordinarily, the D.S.S
has the right to invite people to their offices for questioning, but the
question begging for answer is "How sure are we that the person who called
our director is a member of D.S.S.? What if it is a ploy to get him out of his
comfort zone in order to assassinate or kidnap him?
This is a man, people
have been threatening to kill. Professor Ishaq Akintola has been threatened on
many occasions and the telephone call may have been made by any of his
prospective assailants.
This is a man, who has
been publicly molested for speaking up for the Muslims by people who are
against social justice, security and peace.
This is a man that has
escaped series of assassination attempts by miscreants and hoodlums. Assassins
have been sent to Akintola's home. They shot his wife in the stomach and she
spent weeks in the hospital. How can the DSS invite a man who have suffered
such fate just by ordinary telephone call.
Going by the above, we
advice Oyo State DSS to invite our director professionally in writing for
the sake of security. Another alternative is for the DSS to come and pick him
in Lagos on condition that Muslim lawyers must be present during the
questioning. Any attempt at illegal detention will be resisted with every legal
means available. At least that will give Nigerians the guarantee that he is in
the hands of the DSS. But we warn that nothing must happen to
Akintola.
Although he is based
in Lagos, the DSS Oyo State wants him to report in Ibadan, Oyo State. It
is therefore a cross-state invitation and we see it as very dangerous in
present-day Nigeria where there is insecurity everywhere. We are particularly
concerned when the caller rejected Akintola's suggestion that he was ready to
report at the DSS Lagos office and they insisted that he must come all the way
to Ibadan.
We remind Governor
Seyi Makinde that the current president of Nigeria has been criticized and
abused by many yet he never ordered the security agents to invite, arrest or
detain any of his critics. Many state governors have also experienced criticism
and they tolerated it. But Seyi Makinde has set the state security personnel
against a Muslim non-governmental organization for daring to interrogate the
intolerance of school authorities who forced Muslim students and teachers to
sing Christmas carol. It is executive recklessness. We reaffirm that we will
not succumb to intimidation.
Governor Seyi Makinde
never cautioned Christian school authorities who persecuted Muslim students but
he wants to use the DSS to harass the leader of an Islamic human rights
organization that has been exposing the excessess of christian principals and
teachers in the state.
We insist that peace,
justice and tolerance can only be achieved, if only we respect the rights of
ordinary citizens.
Signed,
Ustadh Jimoh Tajudeen
Alao. Mr. Olaleye
Rasheed Damilare
CHAIRMAN, SECRETARY,
MURIC, MURIC,
OGUN STATE CHAPTER. OGUN STATE CHAPTER
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