IGANGAN : MURIC CONDEMNS ALL KILLINGS

 

11^th June, 2021

PRESS RELEASE:

IGANGAN : MURIC CONDEMNS ALL KILLINGS

 

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), an Islamic human rights organisation, has condemned the spate of killings in the country, including the most recent one in Igangan, Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo State. The group also called on Nigerians to stop the vicious cycle of killings and kidnappings.

 

 

The director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola, made this known in a press release issued on Friday, 11^th June, 2021.

 

 

The statement reads:

 

 

“We are horrified by the spate of killings in all parts of Nigeria. Just as we condemn the most recent one in Igangan, Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo State which occurred on Sunday, 6^th June, 2021, we equally denounce the killing which preceded it in the same Igangan a few months ago. Not only that, we decry all other killings and kidnappings around the country. We reject all forms of violence.

 

 

“As a national organisation with members spread across all parts of the country, MURIC must objectively look at the broad spectrum of killings and condemn all. We cannot treat one act of criminality in isolation and ignore others as if those killed in those areas are not human beings. That will be selective, parochial and myopic. We therefore berate all killings. We decry all forms of violence. That is why our motto is ‘Dialogue, Not Violence’.

 

 

“In particular, we strongly condemn the killing of policemen and soldiers in some parts of the country. Those who target security agents for killing can never succeed in enthroning orderly civilisation. They are simply opening the doors for criminalities of all ramifications and installing a reign of terror.

 

 

“Every Nigerian life is precious to us in MURIC. We hurt and grieve when people of Eastern Nigeria are killed. We feel the pain when those of the South West lose their lives to violence. Our hearts bleed when people of the Middle Belt get hurt and we mourn when Northerners are killed. It does not matter to us whether those who died are Christians or Muslims. Life is sacred. It is precious. Every human being deserves to live in peace and dignity.

 

 

“We call attention to the national spread and ‘federal character’ of the violence that has engulfed Nigeria in recent time. There is ample evidence that it is not limited to any particular region, state or tribe. It has been all-embracing. Just as bandits and cattle rustlers pound us in the North, gunmen ravage our land in the South East and South West.

 

 

“This phenomenon was predicted in the Glorious Qur’an 30:41 when the sacred book says, ‘Mischief has appeared on both land and sea as a result of the handiworks of men’.

 

 

“What we are saying in essence is that the killings are not limited to the recent one in Igangan. Bandits are killing hundreds in Zamfara, Kaduna, Sokoto, etc. For example, just yesterday, 10^th June, 2021, Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State expressed the fear that there may be famine in the state very soon as a result of the criminal activities of herdsmen which has forced farmers to abandon the farms.

 

 

“It is therefore misleading to jump to the conclusion that one region is out to eliminate or dominate any particular region. That is why we must eschew the insurrectionist agenda springing up in the South East and South West. We must all come together to fight the violent elements invading our communities.

 

 

“The way forward lies in the hands of the state governors as the hands of the Federal Government are full fighting Boko Haram insurgents. It is an open secret that governors receive huge amounts of money monthly as security vote. They should spend this money on securing their territories by establishing and empowering local security outfits.   

 

 

“It is in this regard that we commend those governors who have instituted one form of local vigilante group or another. However, the governors should followup this establishment with empowerment. It is not enough to recruit just five hundred securitymen for a whole state. Cities are conquered by numbers. Therefore, the governors should recruit thousands of Amotekun, EbebuAgu, Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) and others and arm them to the teeth in order to enable them tackle all criminals. Criminal herdsmen and bandits must be dealt with according to the law in Kaduna, Ondo, Sokoto, Enugu, Ekiti, etc.  

 

 

“Above all, we must realise that no amount of preparation to defend our territories can be as effective as consciously working for peace and seeking harmony. Nigerians must change their mindset. Our problem is perception. Every tribe suspects the other. Every region nurses grudges against the other. The myth of the North-South dichotomy has congealed into such a thick reality that one can cut it with a knife.     

 

 

“We therefore appeal to all to embrace the current peace efforts of elder statesmen. Nigerians of all ethnicities must stop looking for revenge. Vengeance is nothing but a launching pad for a vicious cycle. Those who revenge murder sleep. They shall sleep no more. This is because revenge is a cold dish that compels the victims to warm its contents. Vengeance is a square peg in a round hole. What you seek is not exactly what you get. Besides, you only know your own heroes and fighters whereas every tribe has its own campions and heroes. Killings can only beget killings.  

 

 

“This is why the Glorious Qur’an advocates the repelling of evil with righteousness. ‘Goodness and evil are incomparable. Pay evil with goodness and see how your erstwhile enemy transforms to an intimate friend’ (Qur’an 41:34). Allah is called the Mighty, the Avenger (‘aziizun dhul intiqaam, Qur’an 3:4). In the same vein, the Bible teaches forgiveness, ‘Forgive, that you may be forgiven. For if you do not forgive, neither will your Father, which is in heaven’ (Mathew 6:14). There will be enduring peace if both Christians and Muslims follow these teachings instead of seeking a pound of flesh from one another.

 

 

“Now a look at the highlights of our advocacy: MURIC condemns the killing of one another by Nigerians, particularly the two separate killing sessions in Igangan and the killing of policemen. Life is sacred. The killings are happening everywhere: North and South. They have a national spread and they are not targeted at any particular group or tribe. State governors must establish security outfits while existing ones like Amotekun, EbebuAgu and JTF must be armed to the teeth. Nigerians must stop seeking vengeance against one another otherwise the vicious cycle of violence will not stop.

 

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director, 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) 

 

MURIC TO BAUCHI CAN: YOU ARE FREE TO USE CANON LAW

 

9^th June, 2021

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC TO BAUCHI CAN:  YOU ARE FREE TO USE CANON LAW

 

The Bauchi State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called for the creation of Ecclesiastical courts for Christians in the State like the Sharia court for Muslims, saying that it will ensure that dispute among Clerics and even Christians are resolved amicably. According to CAN, the ecclesiastical court will ensure that disputes among Clerics and even Christians pertaining to spiritual matters that involve sacraments, successors to personal properties, Christian marriage, discipline, administration of church, ecclesiastical corporate bodies, tithes, benefits , questions touching on oaths and vows are determined in accordance with the Biblical and Christian injunctions.

 

 

In its reaction to this demand, the Islamic human rights group, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), said it has no objection to the request.

 

In a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday, 9^th June 2021, Professor Ishaq Akintola, MURIC’s Director, described the request from CAN as harmless.

                                                  

 

“The Bauchi Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Thursday, 3^rd June 2021, submitted a memorandum to the Constitution Review Committee in Bauchi State in which it demanded for the establishment of Christian courts.

 

 

“We will not play the same game of sitting on Allah-given fundamental human rights of others the same way that Nigerian Christians have been encroaching on the rights of Muslims. Christians are free to demand for their own courts so long as Muslims are not to be dragged to such courts.

 

 

“We know Christians already have Christian law in the country. We could have opposed their new demand but we do not have to be petty. Let them have as many Christian courts as they wish. The Bauchi chapter of CAN cannot tell us that there are no Magistrate courts, High Courts and a Court of Appeal in the whole of Bauchi? Now, what are those courts? Are they not Christian courts? We know that nobody can stop Oliver Twist from wanting more. Neither do we need a Charles Dicken to identify the disciples of Oliver Twist in 21^st century Nigeria.

 

 

“But we want Nigerians to know that Christians already have Christian law in the country because the common law which we have been using since colonial days to date is Christian law. Our contention that common law is Christian law is based on vehement declarations of British judges on the subject.

 

 

“For instance, in the case of Bowman versus Secular Society Limited (1916 – 17), the learned judge said, ‘Ours is, and has always been, a Christian State. The English family is built on Christian ideals and if the national religion is not Christian, there is none. English law may well be called Christian law.’ (Bowman versus Secular Society Limited, 1916 – 17, United Kingdom Appeal Case 406).

 

 

“Lord Finlay, the then Lord Chancellor, also remarked in the same case, ‘There is abundant authority for saying that Christianity is part and parcel of the law of the land.’

 

 

“In his magnum opus, Historia Placitorum Coronae (i.e. The History of Pleas of the Crown, 1736), Sir Mathew Hale declared, ‘Christianity is part of the common law of England’. Also in the case of William (1797), Lloyd Kenyon, (1732 – 1802), said. ‘The Christian religion is part of the law of the land’

 

 

 “Justice Karibi Whyte capped the edifice and amplified the symbiotic relationship that exits between the British common law and Nigeria’s common law when he said, ‘The Holy Bible which appears to contain the fundamental basis of common law claims to have been derived from the Ten Commandments God gave to Moses.’

 

 

“There is no doubt, therefore, that the Christians already have Christian law which was the same law that the Christian colonial masters brought to Nigeria and forced on all of us (including Muslims). Both the criminal and civil aspects of Islamic law were totally abrogated in the South West while only criminal law was abolished in the North.  

 

 

“How beautiful would Nigeria have been if Nigerian Christians, particularly CAN, had been equally objective when reacting to demands forwarded by Muslims? But instead of being constructive, CAN always rejects any idea moved by Muslims even when it does not affect Christians in any way.

 

 

“As we speak, Christians have opposed the demand of Muslims in the South West for Shariah even though they know quite well that the Muslims are only asking for civil Shariah, not the criminal Shariah which they fear involves amputation. They also know that Shariah will only be applied on Muslims alone. Shariah is the law of the Muslims, by the Muslims, for the Muslims.

 

 

“Let it be on record that although Christians have always opposed Yoruba Muslims who have been agitating for civil Shariah, Nigerian Muslims raised no objection when Bauchi Christians asked for Christian canon law. Posterity will judge who is more liberal, more accommodating, more understanding and more tolerant.

 

 

“The Muslims demanded Shariah, CAN screamed blue murder. To date, no single Christian has been taken to Shariah court even after two decades of the reintroduction of Shariah in Northern Nigeria. The Muslims demanded Islamic banking, CAN threatened hell and brimstone. Islamic banks have been operating in Nigeria since January 2012 and the country has not been Islamised. Our neighbours are fond of crying wolf where there is none. All the noise about Islamisation is therefore sheer propaganda, a mirage, a phantom, a sham. CAN is chasing shadows.

 

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director, 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) 

 

MURIC CLARIFIES STATEMENT ON YORUBA MUSLIM PRESIDENT

 

7^th June, 2021

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC CLARIFIES STATEMENT ON YORUBA MUSLIM PRESIDENT

 

Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), which recently declared that Nigeria’s next president must be a Yoruba Muslim, has clarified its position. According to the group, its demand is hinged on the condition that the political parties zone the presidency to the South West. MURIC said it will not oppose a Christian candidate if the post is zoned to any other zone.  

 

 

This was made known to newsmen in a statement issued on Monday, 7^th June, 2021 by the director of the human rights organisation, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

 

 

“Some stakeholders have misunderstood our statement concerning our demand for a Yoruba Muslim president come 2023. They wrongly assume that we do not want a Christian president at all. That is not correct. We have therefore seen the need for us to clarify our statement

 

 

“Our true position is this. We want a Yoruba Muslim to be the next president if the presidency is zoned to the region by political parties. So there is a proviso and the key word is ‘if’. MURIC is not a fanatical group. We do not have a problem with a Christian president. This is a democracy and Nigeria is a multi-religious nation. So we are not opposed to a Christian emerging as president at any time so long as he respects the rights of Muslims.  

 

 

“Our grouse is with the system in the South West. It is an open secret that Christians dominate the education sector in the South West. Although Muslims form majority of the mainstream population, the Christians constitute the majority among the elite class. That is why the civil service is fully in the hands of the Christians while the Muslims are an overwhelming majority among the artisans and traders in Yorubaland. This situation can be traced back to the British Christian colonial masters who manipulated the education system in favour of Christianity.

 

 

“Now we all know that artisans and traders do not make policies and decisions. It is civil servants who control the destiny of the citizens. The school teachers in the South West also dance to the tune of the influential Christian leaders in the civil service to harass, frustrate and oppress Muslim children in the schools. 

 

 

“The Christians who control the civil service are so intolerant and self-centered that they victimise Muslims at any given opportunity. They are not willing to share the paraphernalia of political power, administrative influence and citizens’ rights and priviledges with their Muslim neighbours.

 

 

“This explains the cassu belli for MURIC’s demand for the emergence of a Yoruba Muslim president at the centre. Successive Federal administrations have paid no attention to the complaints of marginalisation and persecution lodged by Yoruba Muslims. It is our belief that a Yoruba Muslim president will hear the cries of Yoruba Muslims because he will know and understand the setting whereas a Christian president emerging from the same South West will make matters worse for Yoruba Muslims.

 

“For the avoidance of doubts, therefore, MURIC is not saying Christians cannot be president in 2023. We are only wary about such a Christian candidate being a Yoruba. The reason for our opposition to the emergence of a Yoruba Muslim president is two-fold.

 

 

“One, Yoruba Christians do not give their Muslim neighbours their Allah-given fundamental human rights. Examples abound in the way female Muslim children are persecuted in Yoruba schools, particularly over hijab and their refusal to allow their fellow Yoruba Muslims to apply civil Shariah which does not affect Christians in any way. We are reluctant to come under the presidency of people who do not respect our civil liberties.

 

 

“Two, Yoruba Christians have been military head of state and president (Mathew Olusegun Obasanjo, 1976 – 1979, 1999 – 2007), interim head of state (Earnest Shonekan, August 1993 – November 1993) and vice president (Professor Yemi Osinbajo, 2015 to date) but no single Yoruba Muslim has had the opportunity to taste power in the centre. Therefore, it will be unfair to give the slot of presidency to a Yoruba Christian again if the post is zoned to the region. Democracy is about inclusion and equal opportunity. Yoruba Muslims are saying enough of marginalisation and exclusivism.

 

 

“We therefore reiterate our position : on Yoruba Muslim president we stand unless the presidency is not zoned to the South West. To give the position to a Yoruba Christian is to sentence Muslims in Yorubaland to a life of perpetual slavery. Our Christian neighbours are yet to learn the art of living and letting live.

 

 

“Therefore, our message to the political parties is this: any party that gives the presidential slot to a Christian candidate in the South West will lose woefully. Yoruba Muslims have woken up from their deep slumber. Just as Abraham Lincoln warned, ‘You can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.’ A word is enough for the wise.” 

 

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director, 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) 

 

COAS APPOINTMENT : STOP MISLEADING THE PUBLIC

 

2^nd June, 2021

PRESS RELEASE:

COAS APPOINTMENT : STOP MISLEADING THE PUBLIC

 

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has advised those criticising President Muhammadu Buhari over the recent appointment of Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) to desist from misleading the public.      

 

 

The Islamic human rights group joined issues with those criticising President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement issued by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Wednesday, 2^nd June, 2021.

 

 

The statement reads:

 

“Some Nigerians are making a mountain out of a mere mole hill. The recent appointment of Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new COAS has attracted a tornado of criticisms. Unfortunately most of the comments were short in objectivity but long in sentimentality.

 

 

“MURIC will like to place the issue in its proper perspective in order to put the records straight. Many of the criticisms were full of outright lies and deliberate inexactitude. Some falsely claimed that the South has produced only four COAS against the North’s seven.

 

 

“For the records, Victor Malu, a Christian from Benue State was COAS from 1999 to 2001. He was succeeded by Alex Ogomudia, another Christian from Delta (2001 – 2003). Martin Luther Agwai who was also a Christian from Kaduna State took over from 2003 to 2006. Agwai handed over the baton to Owoye Andrew Azazi, another Christian from Bayelsa (2006 – 2007). Luka Yusuf, a Christian from Kaduna served in the same capacity from 2007 to 2008. He was succeeded by Abdul Rahman Danbazzau, a Muslim from Kano (2008 – 2010).

 

 

“Azubuike Ihejirika, a Christian from Abia State, came on the scene from 2010 to 2014 and he was succeeded by another Christian from Rivers State, Kenneth Minimah (2014 – 2015). Tukur Buratai, a Muslim from Borno State and the longest serving army chief had a taste of leadership of the Nigerian Army in 2015 and he left office in 2021. Ironically, he was succeeded by the shortest serving COAS, Attahiru Ibrahim, another Muslim from Kaduna. Attahiru was in office for just four months (January 26, 2021 – May 21, 2021). The newly appointed COAS, Farouk Yahaya, is a Muslim from Sokoto.

 

 

“It is clear from the above that seven Christians have been COAS against only four Muslims. No Muslim was deemed fit to be COAS during the reign of Obasanjo (1999 – 2007). Interestingly enough, there is no record of Muslims in the country accusing Obasanjo of Christianising the country the same way Christians are screaming to the rooftops today about a phantom Islamisation.

 

 

“Also self-evident from the above data is the indubitable fact that seven Christians were appointed as COAS over a 14-year period with only one Muslim who served for less than two years. Cumulatively also, Christians have served as COAS for fourteen (14) years in the last 22 years while Muslims have served for eight (8) years only.

 

 

“Nigeria’s armchair critics will not provide any data and when they do, they manipulate and skew it to send their perceived enemy to the guillotine. PMB’s appointment raised such a storm that we thought the heavens would come tumbling down.

 

 

“Yet this is not the first time a Nigerian president will appoint a COAS from his own region and religion. Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan removed Danbazau (a Muslim from Kano) in 2008. He replaced him with a Christian from the South and the Muslims did not complain. Neither did the Northerners raise any eyebrow. Azubuike Ihejirika (September 2010 – January 2014) whom Jonathan appointed to replace Danbazau, is a Christian from Isuikwuato, Abia state. Jonathan still appointed another Southerner and a Christian, Major General Kenneth Minimah (January 2014 – July 2015) from Opobo, Rivers State.

 

 

“This trend has also proved that hate merchants will not be satisfied no matter what Buhari does. Exempli gratia, Buhari appointed Rauf Aregbesola, a Yoruba, to replace Abdul Rahman Bello Danbazzau from Zaria as Minister of the Interior (2015 – 2019) yet the Yorubas who also have their kinsmen as the vice president, minister of works, etc are still pursuing an irredentist agenda.

 

 

“Ninety percent of Nigerian critics lack the power of critical analysis. Unfortunately Nigerians are so gullible that they swallow the shallow baits hook, line and sinker. Majority of Nigerians suffer from mass amnesia. We do not look back to compare events.

 

 

“The appointment of a COAS, particularly in the African context, is a matter of trust. Presidents appoint those with whom they feel comfortable. No president wants an Orka or a Dimka or, worse still, an Nzeogwu. That is the reality. We either take it or leave it. Those behind this false propaganda should stop misleading the public.

 

 

“They should also stop trying to dissuade us from speaking the truth. We cannot allow ourselves to be fooled by their agents who spend hours talking to us on telephone and sending to us text messages which qualify for the Longest Text Messages in Africa Award (LTMAA) in an attempt to convert us into the wailers’ camp. Their threats mean nothing to us because as an Islamic human rights group, we take our inspiration from Islamic tenets where thanatophobia (the fear of death) has no place at all.

 

 

“The Glorious Qur’an says, “Say, ‘Nothing will happen to us except what Allah has decreed for us. He is our Protector’. And in Allah let the believers put their trust.

 

 

“We call on Nigerians to jettison this North-South dichotomy. It is an ill wind that will blow no good towards any Nigerian. It is slowing us down. It is creating bias, narrowing our perspective and beclouding our senses of judgement. Let us embrace integrity as yardstick for electing leaders and meritocracy as perimeter for appointments. But above all, let us love and forgive.

 

 

“For the umpteenth time, we affirm that MURIC is neither for the North nor for the South. NIGERIA is our tribe. NIGERIA is our region. We are for all states and all tribes because we have members in all parts of the country. Neither shall we be partisan because our members are in all political parties. Our truth may be bitter but we will not forsake it for falsehood. We will continue to strike a balance using facts, figures and objectivity; eschewing sentiments, with malice towards none, with charity for all.”

 

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director, 

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)