ARREST AND PROSECUTE ORO PRIESTS IN IKORODU

10^th May, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

ARREST AND PROSECUTE ORO PRIESTS IN IKORODU 

Social and economic activities were paralysed in Ikorodu town, Lagos State, on Tuesday 8^th May, 2018 as Oro worshippers unilaterally imposed curfew on the town to celebrate Oro Festival. This was in spite of the assurance given by the police and the traditional institution on free movement. Banks and shops were shut down and there were no vehicular and human movements in many parts of the town. All motor parks in the neighbourhood remained deserted.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) observes that the unilateral declaration of curfew by Oro priests is illegal, illegitimate and unconstitutional. It is therefore ultra vires.

Chapter 4 Section 41 of the 2011 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 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 thereby or exit therefrom.” Only the the state government on the advise of the state commissioner of police can impose curfew on a town. Even then, such imposition must be based on adverse security report.

Historically, curfews declared by the priests used to be for the night but due to the pervading general lawlessness in the society, Oro priests have started imposing curfews during the day. This shows that Oro priests are becoming daring and this is instructive. It should not be allowed to continue. Apart from this traditionalists have become more combative and security operatives need to more vigilant.

We all agree that there is freedom of worship so long as no worshipper encroaches on the right of others in any way. But Oro priests are stretching their freedom of worship beyond its limit as their curfews infringe on the citizens’ right of movement.

Masqueraders have attacked churches in many parts of the South East. A mosque was vandalized while worshippers were severely injured by masquerades in Ekiti State. Several skirmishes have also been recorded in other parts of the South between traditional worshippers and Christians or between the former and Muslims.

The negative impacts of the imposition of curfew on any city are too dire to trivialize with. A nation’s economy is run by the movement of homo sapiens and goods. Consequently, billions of naira are lost on every single day a curfew is imposed. Lives are also lost as those seriously sick may find it difficult and sometimes impossible to reach hospitals. All forms of learning and research are also suspended.

Nobody can guaranty the safety of any woman who unknowingly drives in or just enters the town during the Oro festival. Market women cannot buy or sell. Married women cannot leave their residences to purchase vital items for the family. This is likely to breed hunger. Most importantly, the lives of women who are seriously ill or in labour and their unborn infants are imperiled. Even students who are to write examinations have to withdraw, relocate or sleep in unhealthy and unsafe school environments. What kind of people are we? How can we expose our young ones to such dangers in the name of tradition?

The imposition of curfews by Oro priests is therefore archaic, retrogressive, counter-productive, inhuman and barbaric. Also by forbidding women from moving around, Oro priests exhibit exclusive treatment of the female gender. This is discriminatory and misogynic.

MURIC had to intervene about seven years ago when Oro priests manifested their impunity once again by imposing curfew on Ikorodu on a Saturday when students were to take English language in their West African School Certificate Examination (WAEC). The publicity of our press statement on the illegal curfew about two days before the examination on radio and television forced the Oro priests to abort their primordial, parochial and pernicious agenda.

We warn that the imposition of curfews by Oro priests is a disaster waiting to happen. What if it happens on a Sunday? How would Christians attend church? A religious clash may occur. It may spread like wild fire. Church goers have been known to attack shrines in the South East. Or if it occurs on a Friday? How can we guarranty peace in such a situation? Tension has been known to have risen on occasions when the Oro priets imposed curfew during Ramadan. Must we sacrifice lives before we secure our liberty?

This is where the law enforcement agents have to come handy. Yet police complicity cannot be ruled out in the Ikorodu episode. For instance, the Lagos Police Command assured Ikorodu residents of safety and asked them to go about their legitimate businesses. But did that stop the Oro priests?

The curfew (isemo) which was imposed still remained effective. Nobody moved about except the Oro priests and their faithful. Dressed like warriors, the Oro worshippers went around with canes, knives, cutlasses and other weapons. They smoked weed publicly and vandalized markets. Yet no single policeman was in sight. This means that the police statement was ineffective. That curfew was an affront on the police. It is unacceptable.

It is not enough for the police to give assurance of safety. That is mere window-dressing. Police must do more. The police must be able to get a commitment from Oro priests. Police can reach the priests though the traditional ruler who knows them all. They must be made to recant. The problem with Nigeria is not an acute shortage of laws. We have enough laws in place but they are not being enforced. The law must be allowed to work. Our police seem to lack the will to invoke the provisions of the law. Illegal curfews will continue to pervade Southern Nigeria until the police are ready to uphold the rule of law.  

Before we round up, there is an urgent need to contribute to the ongoing debate on the demand of Oro worshippers for a day to be declared as a public holiday. MURIC supports this idea on the basis of equal rights and tolerance. Afterall Christians and Muslims have their own public holidays. Traditionalists can have their own holiday but that should not be a licence for imposing any curfew on that particular day. Also, that single day must be synergised with other traditional groups like Sango and Ogun worshippers. Such holiday may also be limited to the South. This will be the responsibility of state governments in the South-West, South-East and South-South.

To cap the edifice, the state governments in Southern Nigeria should address this issue before it is too late. Lawmakers in the various state Houses of Assembly should also do the needful. In particular, the Lagos State House of Assembly must raise the Ikorodu saga on the floor of the House now that it is still fresh. Afterall they are also witnesses to the spectacular mess. We call on law enforcement agents to arrest and prosecute those behind the illegal imposition of curfew in Ikorodu on Tuesday. This should be done in earnest to serve as deterrent to others.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

TRUMP’S COMMENT ON KILLINGS: PRESIDENCY SHOULD PUT ITS HOUSE IN ORDER

9^th May, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

TRUMP’S COMMENT ON KILLINGS:

PRESIDENCY SHOULD PUT ITS HOUSE IN ORDER

The Nigerian media recently went agog with US President Donald Trump’s comment on the killing of Christians in Nigeria. Whereas Trump actually said the killing of Christians and Muslims were unacceptable to the United States, majority of the Nigerian media mentioned Christians alone and excluded Muslims from Trump’s speech.

This gave the impression that the American president welcomed the killing of Muslims or that he was probably unaware that Muslims too were being killed in Nigeria. The lopsided press report naturally provoked Muslim groups like the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) and the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), forcing them to lash out at the US president.

It has since been revealed that President Trump had (towards the end of his remarks) added the need for the Nigerian government to protect ‘innocent civilians of all faiths, including Muslims and Christians’ but Nigerian reporters left this out. The Nigerian Presidency later described the biased media report as unfair and condemned the Muslim groups for their reactions.  

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) rejects the presidency’s condemnation of the Muslim groups who reacted to the report. Rather it is the presidency who should put its house in order. The presidency should have corrected the biased Nigerian media’s report immediately it broke out.

He who must eat with the devil must possess a long spoon. Government’s information agencies must be faster than mainstream media outfits. Neither should the presidency expect Muslim groups to fold their arms while the Muslim population is exposed to ridicule, disdain, threats, blackmail and coercion. Gone are the days when Nigerian Muslims were sitting ducks.

The Federal Government (FG) should follow the example of the Kaduna State government. A journalist who authored a false publication was charged to court about two years ago by the state government. This is what FG should do. Freedom of the press must be guaranteed but unprofessional conduct must be sanctioned. Biased or false reportage is dangerous. It is capable of setting the country on fire. There must be scapegoats. People must be held accountable for their actions. The reason why things are not moving in this country is that Nigerians have a laissez faire mindset. This is not acceptable in journalism.

MURIC commends the American president for its quick condemnation of the killing of 71 Muslims in the twin bombing at Mubi in Borno State on Tuesday, 1^st May, 2018. We appreciate the support of the Trump administration for the Nigerian government in its war against terrorism, insurgency and brigandage.

We firmly express our solidarity with the American people who are known not only for their love for democracy, but for their humane disposition to people of all races. We condemn terrorism and all acts of violence against America in particular and the West in general. We reject all messages of hate, particularly those directing Muslims to kill citizens of the West and to target Western interests.

As we round up, we invite the Nigerian government to find a way of dealing with media outfits who engage in biased or false reportage. We charge the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to collectively enforce the ethics of the profession.  

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

STOP BUHARI’S IMPEACHMENT PROCESS OR …

6^th May, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

STOP BUHARI’S IMPEACHMENT PROCESS OR …

The National Assembly (NASS) is currently plotting to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari. This followed a motion moved on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday 24^th April, 2018 by Senator Matthew Urhoghide. The senator asked his colleagues in the Red Chamber to invoke Section 143 of the Nigerian Constitution to remove the president because the latter approved the sum of $496 million for the purpose of purchasing 12 Super Tucano war planes without recourse to the NASS.

Urhogide, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) senator representing Edo South Senatorial District, insists that the president violated Section 80 of the Constitution with the approval.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is stupefied by the attitude of members of the NASS. It is bellicose and extremely hostile. The body language of Nigeria’s current legislators manifests an acute desertification of parliamentary acumen.

It would have been a different story if Buhari had approved such an amount to buy more jets for the presidential fleet or for members of his family. But this is to increase the combat readiness of our own military for crying out loud! Our legislators are standing logic on its head.

Boko Haram insurgents occupied seventeen local governments in Borno State and threatened two other states in the North East: Adamawa and Yobe because the Jonathan administration adopted a lackadaisical attitude to insecurity in the region. Money meant for the purchase of arms for the military to fight the insurgents was fraudulently shared among party faithfuls.

What did the NASS do for former President Goodluck Jonathan in 1914when Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s private jet which was stuffed with $9.3 million by Jonathan was smuggled out of Nigeria to South Africa for ‘procurement of arms’? Why was Jonathan’s unprincipled procedure overlooked while Buhari’s transparent, standard and conventional global process must be castigated? What manner of legislating is this? Who gave us these legislators? Who did this to Nigeria?

Who appropriated the $9.3 million for Jonathan for the procurement of arms in South Africa? Did he even write to the National Assembly to merely notify them about his intention to procure those arms? Can anyone compare that to Buhari’s transparent gesture? Is it not a mark of moral jaundice to demonise a noble deal while a crooked transaction is idolised? Or what did the NASS dominated by the  PDP at the time do after the Jonathan-Oritsejafor dollar smuggling scandal burst?

By the way, who appropriated the $2.1 billion arms funds that President Jonathan carted away and shared to his campaigners? Money meant for fighting insecurity converted to campaign fund for Jonathan’s second term and the NASS turned a blind eye.

This should have been the focus of those organizing or instigating demonstrations over the current general insecurity. This is where the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) got it wrong. They should have asked Jonathan certain pertinent questions. They should have reminded him of what he did to this country. The hard fact is that Jonathan paralysed Nigeria’s security apparatus.  

Which NASS appropriated for Jonathan all the billions of dollars he took from the Excess Crude Account with nothing to show for the billions? Did the PDP dominated NASS ever say anything about those illegalities? So why is the current NASS taking on Buhari for doing the needful?

Is it because they want Buhari to fail in his determination to fight insurgency? Is it because the war against corruption is succeeding? Are our legislators unhappy because the looting tap is now dry? Must they vent their spleen on a frugal president, a president who has refused to waste public funds? Is it because they are scared of a second term presidency for Buhari? Or is it because there is no under-the-table cut in the Super Tucano agreement for some interests in the NASS? Sorry but it is not in Buhari’s character. The party is over.

Are the British Commons and the Lords listening? Is the American Congress paying any attention to this bastardisation of parliamentary values and degradation of legislative norms in Nigeria? Insecurity has reached a scandalizing peak in Nigeria but our legislators want to remove the president for striking a neat deal to purchase arms in order to effectively combat terrorism.

Demonstrations are being staged around the country over insecurity but our legislators care less. We are already in the month of May but our legislators are yet to pass a budget submitted to them about eight months ago. NASS owes Nigerians an explanation. Is it because their palms have not been greased as usual? It is just a question. No wonder foreign governments refer to Nigeria as ‘fantastically corrupt’.

We assure members of the NASS that no matter what they do, Nigerians are proud of Buhari: this is a president who is still using his predecessor’s old cars three years after. Unlike most Nigerian politicians, although he has been a former military head of state, a former military governor, a garrison commander, chairman of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), he has no private jet, no foreign account, no fleet of cars and no hilltop palatial houses.

Unlike his predecessor, Buhari’s wife uses commercial planes when travelling outside Nigeria and his ministers are not even allowed to fly first class either within or outside the country. This is why Nigerians are passionate about Buhari.

Members of the NASS must tell Nigerians: are you with us or are you with the enemies of Nigeria? If you are with us you must leave Buhari alone. If you are with us you must drop that irrational, odious and insidious move to impeach the people’s president. It is preposterous and highly reprehensible for anyone to contemplate impeaching the most transparent president Nigeria ever had. It is a big shame that the NASS tolerated thieves for 16 years but find it difficult to tolerate a honest man for three years! We can understand. We know Buhari is a pain in the ass for looters.

In a nutshell, we warn the NASS to stop Buhari’s impeachment process or face the wrath of Nigerians and the anger of the civilized world. Many receive advice, but only the wise profit by it.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)