WITHDRAW SOLDIERS FROM TINUBU'S HOUSE

11^th February, 2015

PRESS RELEASE:

WITHDRAW SOLDIERS FROM TINUBU’S HOUSE

Battle-ready helmet-wearing soldiers have reportedly been stationed in front of the personal residence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the past three days. According to reports, the stern-looking soldiers numbering about thirty (30) are in three patrol vans and an army truck. The soldiers have allegedly become a permanent feature very close to the entrance of the gate to Tinubu’s house along Bourdillon Road in Ikoyi.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is perturbed by this ugly development. The presence of soldiers so close to the main gate of Tinubu’s residence gives gravecause for concern because Tinubu is the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the main opposition party that has been giving the ruling party sleepless nights.

We recall that around 90% of members of the ruling party (Peoples Democratic Party, PDP) who defected joined APC. These include five serving governors, several senators and numerous members of the House of Representatives. The collateral damage to the PDP is so serious that the ruling party has become a minority in the National Assembly.

MURIC strongly suspects that the Presidency holds Tinubu responsible for debilitating its political empire. The same Tinubu also singlehandedly masterminded the takeover of the South West from PDP during the 2007 general elections. But he allegedly gave President Jonathan the same region in the 2011 presidential election after an alleged yet deceitful secret accord which he has refused to renew this time around. Is the siege on his home an attempt to cow him into entering into a similar secret accord in the 2015 polls? Or is it just for President Jonathan’s pound of flesh?

We denounce the misuse of soldiers by the Presidency and demand the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of those soldiers. Soldiers have never been misused like this under any other regime. President Jonathan will therefore go down in Nigerian history as the most vindictive in power. Does Shekau live in Tinubu’s house? Are the Chibok girls being kept there?

Again we recall that soldiers were used by the ruling party to arrest and detain members of the opposition during the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun States. Is the deployment of soldiers to Tinubu’s residence a dress rehearsal for the same dirty, diabolical, tyrannical and unconstitutional exercise in the 2015 polls?

The deployment of troops to Tinubu’s house without any justifiable explanation is very unhealthy for democracy. It is a threat to freedom of movement. We know that election cannot be free and fair if there is no balanced playing ground for both the ruling party and the opposition.

The rigging of elections does not necessarily occur on the day of election alone. It often starts long before the D-day. With the grounding of opposition aircrafts, with the denial of landing rights for opposition planes which are already midair, by soldiers in the home of the main opposition leader, President Jonathan has demonstrated beyond any modicum of doubt that he is not preparing for a free and fair election.    

In view of the above, MURIC demands guarantee for the safety of Tinubu and other leaders of the APC as well as leaders of all other political parties from President Jonathan. Nigerians are no fools. From now on, we will hold Jonathan responsible if anything happens to any opposition leader, critic or activist.

We charge Nigerians to remain vigilant, resolute but peaceful and law-abiding. There is no retreat, no surrender. We refuse to be intimidated. This peaceful revolution must be pursued until victory is achieved for the Nigerian people.

Finally, we alert foreign embassies in Nigeria to keenly watch the unfolding spectacle. We also draw the attention of the international community, particularly the African Union and Nigeria’s immediate neighbours in West Africa to the dangerous game of using soldiers to silence the opposition.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

PRESS RELEASE: LEAVE JEGA ALONE

9^th February, 2015

PRESS RELEASE: LEAVE JEGA ALONE

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday postponed the 2015 general elections till March 28, 2015. This was sequel to the outrageous submission of Nigeria’s military service chiefs that they could not guarantee the safety of INEC staff if the election starts on February 14 as earlier scheduled.   

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has earlier questioned the rationale for the postponement. We wonder why the military would deliberately pick February 14, the day general elections was expected to start, as the very day they want to commence operations against insurgents in North Eastern Nigeria.

This is an insurgency that started four years ago. What magic do they want to perform in six weeks when in four years they could not suppress the insurgents? Do they have a foolproof plan to rescue Chibok girls who were abducted three hundred and one days (301) ago? Why did our military pick February 14 of all dates? We assert clearly and unequivocally that there is more to the military’s choice of February 14 for the commencement of its offensive than meets the eye.

Today there is palpable fear in the country that President Jonathan’s next move would be the removal of Professor Attahiru Jega, the respected Chairman of INEC. Political analysts have raised this fear and Nigerians are not only deeply concerned but highly agitated.

MURIC cautions the Presidency against such a move. If Jega is removed before the elections, it will confirm the suspicion that this regime is not keen on holding a free and fair election. The press is already agog with the story that President Jonathan is shopping around for a pliant INEC chairman. This is not the best thing for Mr. President to do at this material time. Nigerians will not have confidence in a man appointed few weeks to the elections. It had better not be.  

INEC is supposed to be independent and that is implied in its nomenclature. Replacing Jega with another person who is ready to compromise will be the last nail in the coffin of this regime’s credibility. It will be so transparent that the whole world will see that President Jonathan’s wish is to turn Nigeria into a banana republic.

MURIC affirms that the credibility of any other person as chairman of INEC apart from Jega will be questionable.

The thought of replacement also raises more questions than answers. When will such a person get to understand the system? Will he be able to operate on the same wave length as Jega? Will he gain the confidence of INEC commissioners? How soon can he acclimatize? Such a replacement can only bring confusion.

Pundits have opined that President Jonathan is eyeing the vice chancellor of one of the universities. Of course we know that a serving vice chancellor is a government appointee whose loyalty to his employer must be 150%. It will be easy for the Federal Government to influence such a man.

Nonetheless, we advise Mr. President to drop the idea. Nigerians repose full confidence in Jega. He has taken them through several elections without blemish. They will trust him again. Any new chairman is either a parasite on INEC’s tree of success, Mr. President’s bootlicker or a court jester whose value starts and ends in Aso Rock.

We therefore strongly advise Mr. President to allow Jega to finish what he started. He is doing well. He is a good umpire. Those who nurse the fear of a North-Jega connivance are not being sincere. Afterall he supervised the election won by Mr. President in 2011 and the president’s main contender at the time is the same Northerner and main opposition candidate today.

President Jonathan should let sleeping dogs lie. Jega has pedigree. As the former president of the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), Jega epitomizes Nigeria’s center of excellence. This has been proved several times as professors have served INEC as returning officers. Thus Nigerians have had no cause to doubt the results of elections apart from Ekitigate.

We believe that university professors were encouraged to serve during elections because of the confidence they have in the system under the leadership of their ex-president. These are highly principled academia, men and women of timber and caliber. They are people who cannot be easily cowed by politicians. They have weathered several storms and emerged stronger.

Any interference with the workings of INEC at this stage will have dire consequences for future elections as principled academia and people of integrity may shun officiating in future exercises.

MURIC solidarises with INEC Chairman. We charge Jega to remain resolute and undaunted. He must not allow intimidation to push him towards resignation. Jega must not resign. He has become the symbol of the resistance of that dictatorial propensity which has manifested lately in the Nigerian leadership. He should not let Nigerians down by resigning.

Finally, we send a strong message to members of ASUU: no professor of real substance should serve in any election organized under any other chairman if Jega is removed. Such an election can only be a kangaroo election and it will smear the image of the academia. We warn that the removal of Jega will rob the elections of any credibility, cause disillusion among the electorate and turn this country into a laughing stock in the comity of nations.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

POLL SHIFT: SECURITY FACTOR IS A MERE SMOKESCREEN

8^th February, 2015

PRESS RELEASE:

POLL SHIFT: SECURITY FACTOR IS A MERE SMOKESCREEN

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday announced the postponement of the 2015 general elections which had been scheduled to hold on February 14^th and 28^th. The presidential and national assembly elections will now take place on 28^th March 2015 while the gubernatorial and state assembly polls will be held on  11^th April 2015.     

The postponement was informed by the position of Nigeria’s security agencies who maintain that they could not guarantee the safety of INEC staff in the North East if the elections were not shifted.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is flabbergasted by this postponement. It is unnecessary because countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan which are ravaged by worse security situations have successfully conducted general elections and did not succumb to security threat.

We strongly suspect that the security factor is a mere smokescreen. The real raison d’etre lies in the imminent defeat of the ruling party. Having read between the lines, the ruling party has been running from pillar to post looking for the magic wand. They turned to litigation after the main opposition candidate’s certificate imbroglio failed. The attempt to hoodwink the Council of State also hit the rocks. The military option is the ace.

This postponement is therefore not about security issues. The real casus belli is the urgent desire of the ruling party to buy time. The idea is to keep stalling until a sinister plan matures. This can be gleaned from the understanding that the shift is for six weeks “in the first instance”, a phrase that has surfaced in the controversy. Well, Nigerians are waiting.

MURIC regrets the manner the Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria and the ruling party are dragging the military into politics. This portends great danger for democracy. Bastardisation of the military is bound to undermine its professionalism. They appear so desperate that rather than play the role of good sportsmen and true democrats, they are prepared to destroy what they cannot enjoy. Resorting to the use of security agencies after the Council of State had rejected a postponement exposes the low level FG has sunk.  

MURIC asserts that the reason cited for the postponement of the Nigerian general elections is weak, baseless and unfounded. It is the Nigerian army that is involved in the war against the insurgents, not the police. Civilized countries do not involve the military in elections. This is strictly a police constituency. This is why the use of soldiers in earlier elections in Ekiti and Osun was roundly condemned by Nigerians.   

The whole gamut smacks of hypocrisy. Both FG and the ruling party pretended to oppose the idea of an election shift ab initio even though it was first muted by a top-ranking government official in far away Britain. Yet they were mobilizing for it and they were the first to welcome it when it was eventually announced.   

MURIC cautions FG not do anything rash in the interregnum. Nigerians should not be pushed to the wall. We warn against violent reactions by the opposition. We remind security agencies of the need to remain neutral and to play the game according to the rules. We charge all stakeholders to remember that the Nigerian project is not about any individual. It is about our survival as a corporate entity.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

AUDIT REPORT OF NNPC ACCOUNT: HEADS MUST ROLL

7^th February, 2015

PRESS RELEASE:

AUDIT REPORT OF NNPC ACCOUNT: HEADS MUST ROLL

The forensic audit conducted on behalf of the Federal Government by PriceWaterHouseCoopers, an audit firm, on the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [NNPC] was submitted two days ago. The report, which was made public by the Presidency, indicted the management of the national oil company for engaging in several spurious transactions and recommended that NNPC should refund $1.48billion.

While the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) welcomes this finding, we affirm that it has exonerated eminent and patriotic Nigerians who made allegations concerning the monumental fraud going on in the national oil company.

It is on record that two former governors of the Central Bank (who are in the position to know) had made serious allegations against NNPC. The immediate past governor of the Central Bank and current Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, alleged that $20 billion was missing more than one year ago.

Recently, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, a former governor, alleged that N30 trillion was missing under the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala. The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), had also accused NNPC of failing to remit the sum of N3.65 trillion oil revenue.      

From the ongoing and in view of the recently submitted report, there is no gainsaying the fact that NNPC has become a cesspool of corruption. To cap the edifice, we now have a Federal Government headed by a President who does not believe that stealing is corruption. Worse still, individuals indicted at home and abroad are being glorified by President Jonathan.

We frown at this nonchalant attitude to transparency, probity and accountability. A regime that encourages corrupt practices has no moral right to ask the electorate for another mandate.

MURIC reminds Nigerians that Transparency International rated Nigeria the Most Corrupt Country in the world in the year 2001. Two years later, in 2003, the same international body rated Nigeria Second Most Corrupt country in the world. In 2004, Nigeria was rated the Third Most Corrupt Country. Nigerian authorities should have taken a cue from these ratings.

In spite of the fact that up till late 2014 Nigeria was producing 2.4 million barrels per day and selling every single barrel at about $91.63 thus making around $224 million daily or $81 billion per annum, the socio-economic lot of the average Nigerian did not improve. The average Nigerian still depends on less than $1 per day. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita income is less than $2,688 compared to $16,507 in Equitorial Guinea and $13,029 in Mauritius. Poverty has become the middle name of more than 65% of Nigerians.    

We therefore invite the Federal Government (FG) to take urgent action on corruption. FG must sit up. All the problems facing Nigeria will disappear the moment we get it right on corruption.

MURIC demands immediate action against those responsible for the financial recklessness in NNPC. FG must set up an independent panel to investigate the mess in NNPC. One of the terms of reference of the panel should be the investigation of recent allegations (that of NEITI and that of Soludo). Heads must roll after the investigation. Anyone found culpable must pay for it. Only thus can we have a financially prudent national oil company.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

REUTER’S FALSE STORY ON POSTPONEMENT OF 2015 POLLS: JEGA MUST TAKE CHARGE FROM NOW ON

5^th February, 2015

PRESS RELEASE:

REUTER’S FALSE STORY ON POSTPONEMENT OF 2015 POLLS:  JEGA MUST TAKE CHARGE FROM NOW ON

Reuters erroneously reported yesterday that the Nigerian election had been postponed. The misleading report threw panic into both the media world and the Nigerian public. Fortunately, however, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) quickly refuted the story.   

This development is most unfortunate. It shows how easily the Nigerian public can be deceived and how volatile is the issue of the 2015 polls. The misleading Reuters story was credited to an executive of INEC and it would have ignited nationwide unrest but for the timely denial from INEC headquarters.  

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) strongly condemns this irresponsible, despicable  and reckless abuse of information paraphernalia by the international news agency.

We call for an independent probe into the source of the misleading information and the circumstances surrounding its release into the Nigerian information system. We advise INEC to screen its high level officials in order to ensure that fifth columnists are not allowed to throw spanners into the wheels of the 2015 polls.

We appeal to the Nigerian media to ignore information about the 2015 polls emanating from sources other than the chairman of INEC himself, Professor Attahiru Jega. Journalists are strongly advised to cross-check information before using it. We charge INEC Chairman to take full charge of information being released to the public from now on until after the election because Nigerians are very gullible and they are presently experiencing pre-election euphoria. Therefore all information regarding the 2015 polls should be handled with all sense of responsibility and a high sense of patriotism.     

MURIC invites the Federal Government to appreciate the high level of political consciousness of the average Nigerian citizen as at today. It will be a colossal tragedy for anybody to underestimate the passion of Nigerians for their Allah-given and fundamental human rights and the contempt Nigerians now have for those who are attempting to fool them.

The tiny cabal attempting to enact the June 12 abracadabra is therefore advised to desist before they drag Nigeria into another monumental tragedy. We remind those in position of authority that 2015 is different from 1993. Too many groups are militarized at present and it requires only one wrong step in the wrong direction for Nigeria to be plunged into a huge conflagration.  

Finally, MURIC appeals to Nigerians, particularly the youth, to remain calm and law abiding. Nigerians should patiently investigate every piece of information. We call for utmost caution and mature analysis of situations. People should not just jump to conclusions. This is the time to control tempers and ignore provocations. Acts of thuggery leading to arson, maiming and killing will only drag this country back into the 60s. We have no other country besides Nigeria.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

DELAY OF INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS: FG IS PLAYING HANKY-PANKY

4^th February, 2015

PRESS RELEASE:

DELAY OF INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS:

FG IS PLAYING HANKY-PANKY

The kick-off of the 2015 Nigerian general elections is just ten days away. Reports trending indicate that international observers are yet to arrive in the country. Stakeholders have already started expressing their worries over this delay.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) joins other well-meaning groups and patriotic individuals in raising the alarm about the absence of foreign observers. International observers take position in countries preparing for elections several weeks before the commencement of the exercise. This is the accepted international standard and Nigeria should not fall short of this practice.

With attempts being made to scuttle the 2015 elections and allegations going round that the Federal Government (FG) is behind these sinister maneuvers, we have every reason to believe that FG is deliberately procrastinating. In connivance with the ruling party, FG is trying to buy more time for its damage-control gimmicks to work.

MURIC rejects this hanky-panky. We assert that mandate-stealing begins with time-stealing. The future of this country remains dicey if Aso Rock does not change its happy-go-lucky mentality. We cannot continue this foot-dragging for the next four years.

The deliberate delay of the arrival of international observers exposes FG’s hidden agenda. This administration comes across as one that never intended to allow a smooth and democratic transition through a free and fair election.

FG must tell Nigerians why its embassies abroad have not commenced issuing visas to foreign journalists and observers. We nurse a strong suspicion that FG has more than one skeleton in its cupboard. Those who organize elections must be transparent in the same way that those who come to equity must come with clean hands. A higgledy-piggledy arrangement can only be calculated towards thwarting one man one vote.

MURIC charges FG to immediately and unconditionally allow international observers to enter Nigeria. This will be a bold step towards becoming democracy-compliant. A regime which claims to be embarking on transformation cannot afford to fall short of international best practices.

Finally, we appeal to the African Union (AU) to beam its floodlight on Nigeria at this crucial moment. In view of Nigeria’s population size and the implications of a humanitarian crisis in the country for the whole of Africa, the continental body should not wait any longer. The time for AU’s presence and diplomatic intervention is now.

By the same token, we extend this appeal to the United Nations Organisation (UNO) as well as the European Union (EU). The world has become a global village and whatever affects Africa may not necessarily remain Africa’s problem alone.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)