MURIC COMMENDS POLICE, SSS FOR RESCUE OF ROBBERY VICTIMS

19^th December, 2016

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC COMMENDS POLICE, SSS FOR RESCUE OF ROBBERY VICTIMS

About ten heavily armed daredevil hoodlums in army uniform attacked passengers of a Lagos-bound luxurious bus after midnight on Saturday 17^th December, 2016. The incident occurred after the bus left Lokoja, just between Ikenne and Ondo.

For refusing to stop when ordered to do so, the armed robbers shot and killed the driver, leaving the bus to drift for some seconds before the second driver managed to bring it to a halt inside the bush. The passengers then fled into the bush and hid themselves. Thereafter the robbers ransacked the luxurious bus, stealing cash and other valuable properties.  

One of the passengers, a female youth corper, sent out an SOS message which both the State Security Service (SSS) and the Nigeria Police used to trace her location in the bush. The corper and the remaining passengers were rescued alive. They have since arrived in Lagos.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) commends both the SSS and the police for this brilliantly executed rescue operation. The speed at which the victims were located is highly appreciated. We salute the police for their boldness and for risking their lives to save innocent citizens. In particular, we single out the Abuja Commissioner of Police who alerted the Kogi Police Command. The role of the Ondo command was also crucial to the rescue.   

We advise Nigerians to hearken to police warnings. Those warnings are professional and well-informed. They are capable of saving our lives and properties. For example, police usually warns against night travels but how many people heed this warning? The ugly incident we described above could have been avoided if police warning had been taken into consideration.  

In like manner, MURIC calls on Nigerians to willingly and readily give information to the police and other security agencies. Crime cannot be totally eliminated or reduced in any society if citizens treat their security agents like lepers. We understand why people are reluctant to cooperate with the police but we must also remember that all segments of our society are guilty of the same allegations often made against the security agencies. What we all need is a change of mindset. We must be ready to cooperate with the police.

We call on the Federal Government to step up equipment procurement for the security agencies, increase their allowances and introduce other motivations in order to enhance greater efficiency.

We advise youth corpers to avoid constant trips, afterall it is just for one year. They should remain in their places of primary assignment except during emergencies. Parents should discourage their corper sons and daughters from leaving their stations until the end of their service year.

As we round up, we invite civil society, public analysts, critics and activists to broaden their minds. Positive activism cannot rest on hostile comments all the time. It demands the ability to appreciate the good actions of authorities once in a while, not just criticisms ad infinitum. Constant and subjective criticism kills incentive and ignites endless frustration. We may criticize authorities but we must also be objective by showing appreciation for good performance from time to time.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

REJECTION OF MAGU: SENATE IS CORRUPTION’S WMD

16^th December, 2016

PRESS RELEASE:

REJECTION OF MAGU: SENATE IS CORRUPTION’S WMD

The Nigerian Senate yesterday rejected the appointment of Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).      

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is nonplussed by this development. It is an act of vengeance and a shameless anti-people decision. The rejection of Magu’s appointment by Senate is a declaration of hostilities against the anti-corruption crusade. The Nigerian Senate has just revealed its true colour as corruption’s undisputed numero uno Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD).

Senate has decided to take its pound of flesh for Magu’s no nonsense stance in EFCC’s role in the war against corruption. But the Nigerian Senate has been too clever by half. The Nigerian people are not stupid morons. They know why our lawmakers are baring their fangs.

Nigerians know that the same EFCC under Magu is behind the exposure of alleged corrupt dealings of the Senate president whose forgery case is still in court. Magu is being punished for daring the Senate president. In acting capacity since November 2015, Magu’s screening which had been pending since July, 2016 was billed for last Thursday 8^th December but it was postponed again till yesterday. Was the procrastination not a hidden message to the EFCC boss? “Back off and you will be confirmed. Persist and you will never be confirmed!”

Although yesterday’s rejection may have put the last nail in the coffin, Nigerians need to know Senate’s modus operandi. This Senate believes that the executive arm of government must play ball even at the expense of the masses or face the consequences. Senate feels threatened by the war against corruption because its hands are not clean.

We remind Nigerians of the ping-pong game on the 2016 budget. Senate found one excuse after another to frustrate the presentation of the 2016 budget to the detriment of the Nigerian people. Patriotism was sent to the winds and the real purpose of legislation which was to serve the people was ignored by Senate members.

It is noteworthy that Senate was actually hijacked ab initio for the singular purpose of frustrating President Buhari’s administration. Powerful forces had correctly predicted that Buhari would go all out for the jugular of corrupt elements in society. These powerful forces are now using an hijacked Senate to fight back.

The signs in the horizon are ominous. Senate is being used to fight the Buhari administration. Half of his ambassadorial nominees were recently rejected by Senate. The same Senate has rejected nominees known to have criticized Senate at one time or the other. This Senate has shown beyond any reasonable doubt that it is frustrating the current war against corruption.

This Senate has shown that it only cares for the interest of its members and not that of the Nigerian people. Despite the current recession, it purchased 108 exotic Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles at the whopping cost of N31.5 million per car (totaling N3.6 billion) for its members. This is an act of insensitivity and a crime against poor Nigerians. This is in spite of getting car loans for its members in August 2015! Even the price of the vehicles was allegedly inflated because each vehicle costs N17 million only, ceteris paribus.

Ten new exotic cars were delivered to Senate Deputy President in December 2015. The Senate president got more earlier. To circumvent extant laws, Senate is desperately amending the anti-corruption law. It sought immunity for its leadership. It is also feverishly engaged in stripping the president of his executive powers in virtually all matters simply because Buhari has remained adamant in his war on corruption.

MURIC calls on civil society to rise against this hijacked Senate. We charge the arrow head of civil society, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), to do the needful. Workers must be mobilized at the appropriate time to make it impossible for the National Assembly to work against the interest of the masses. We warn that the jamaheer are doomed if Senate is allowed to frustrate the current war against corruption.

We invite religious leaders, church clerics and Imams to mobilize their followers for a showdown with this greedy Senate. They are behind the hunger and starvation being faced by Nigerians. They are responsible for all our economic woes. A morally bankrupt NASS cannot represent the electorate. A non-violent people’s revolution targeted at the NASS has become expedient.   

SOYINKA’S ‘STUPID’ ‘MORONS’ COMMENT:

This reminds us of Professor Wole Soyinka’s recent reference to Nigerians as ‘stupid’ and ‘morons’. We believe that Soyinka was grossly misunderstood. Those words were vituperations compelled by the docility of Nigerians in the face of massive fraud, monumental corruption and unequalled oppression. In other climes, massive demonstrations at the NASS after those shocking revelations would have forced its leaders to resign.  

Soyinka is shocked that Nigerians fail to know their real enemies. Those words were meant to express disdain for our nonchalance and passivity thereby jogging us to action. They were wake up calls. We must show this Senate that we are neither ‘stupid’ nor ‘morons’.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

MAULUD MESSAGE: SET INNOCENT CAPTIVES FREE

12^th December, 2016

MAULUD MESSAGE:

SET INNOCENT CAPTIVES FREE

As Nigerian Muslims join more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world to mark the birth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), the Federal Government has declared today, Monday 12^th December, 2015 as a public holiday.     

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) felicitates with the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammadu Sa‘ad Abubakar III CFR, mni on this august occasion. We also congratulate Nigerian Muslims and the entire Nigerian citizenry for witnessing this great day.

Today is a very special day because it marks the birth of the greatest man that ever lived. Prophet Muhammad was sent to the whole world (Qur’an 34:28) as a mercy from Allah (Qur’an 28:46-47), a mercy to believers (Qur’an 9:61) and a compassion to Muslims and non-Muslims alike (Qur’an 21:107). He was an exemplary leader (Qur’an 33:21) and the seal of all prophets (Qur’an (33:40).

Though he came in a period of oppression, he brought justice and equity. He replaced disorder with order, retrogression with progress, cruelty with kindness and hatred with love.

Despite the tornado of false accusations leveled against him by detractors and professional liars, a number of non-Muslim authors see him as the light of the world. Geo Lind-say Johnson called him “an advanced psychic as well as a true prophet of God”. Stanley Lane Poole said “Muhammad had mighty powers of imagination of the mind”. Marmaduke Pickthall affirmed that “Muhammad was a sincere man who gave many beautiful precepts for human welfare”.

La Martine said Muhammad was “a philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, the restorer of rational beliefs, is there any man greater than he?” To cap the edifice, Michael Hart in his book entitled The Great 100 picked Muhammad as the greatest of all men. This is the man we are celebrating today.

MURIC gives FG a pat in the back for recognizing this day and for declaring a public holiday to mark it. But this is not enough. FG must do something more pragmatic and more tangible to mark the occasion. Just as Prophet Muhammad was a champion of justice and liberty, we call on FG to demonstrate those great principles of fairness and equity by setting free all men and women who are languishing in Nigerian jails for no just cause.

Top on the list are the 54 soldiers who were imprisoned for refusing to fight Boko Haram insurgents with poor weapons. These 54 soldiers are the true heroes who exposed the $2.1 billion arms fraud. Next are thousands of awaiting trial inmates in Nigerian prisons all over the country. The Nigerian House of Representatives revealed last month (November 2016) that two thirds of the inmates of Nigerian prisons are awaiting trial. This is not only alarming but also disheartening. It makes a mockery of our system.

We are not unaware that Nigerians are praying fervently for their country yet we continue to go from bad to worse and from the frying pan into the fire. It seems all our prayers are in vain. We warn that the prayers of Nigerians from the churches and mosques are being blocked by the curses of the oppressed and the wailings of innocent ones held in prisons under severely inhuman conditions.

How can our prayers be answered when we are so wicked to our fellowmen? How can our prayers be answered when thousands of innocent men and women are in chains?

In conclusion, MURIC charges FG to immediately set the machinery in motion for a massive and radical decongestion of prisons. Let the innocent inmates go. Set our people free. Let the 54 soldiers go home to their families and loved ones. They are heroes, not criminals. They are patriots, not rebels. Purify the land and see what Allah will do for Nigeria.  

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

MURIC IS NEITHER PRO-SHIITE NOR ANTI-RUFAI

7^th December, 2016

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC IS NEITHER PRO-SHIITE NOR ANTI-RUFAI

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) yesterday issued a statement cautioning the government of Kaduna State on the issue of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN, also known as Shiites). This was in reaction to a statement credited to the Kaduna State Government in which it declared the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) an insurgent group.    

Well-meaning Nigerians, particularly from the North where the impact of the group has been felt most, have sincerely intervened and thrown more light on the activities and status of the IMN. Fresh information has revealed IMN’s attack on the Emir of Zaria, its alleged involvement in the assassination of some Muslim clerics, its lack of respect for constituted authority, its posturing as a government within a government, its alleged possession of arms, etc.

In the face of these fresh facts, we are obliged to incorporate the opinions of our members who are up-North. This is necessary in order to carry them along. Who feels it knows it. Those who live very close to the IMN must know IMN better.  

Even while we are not holding brief for the authors of the allegations, MURIC wishes to state clearly, categorically and unequivocally that at no point in time had we been pro-Shiite. Neither do we share any doctrinal identity with IMN. Our interest lies in the maintenance of peace in the Nigerian society and the need to avoid creating another monster like Boko Haram.

MURIC is as worried as every other Islamic organization about the doctrinal differences and heretic inclinations of Shiism. But sectarian differences are not limited to Islam. Above all, we are gravely concerned about the self-imposed isolationist disposition of IMN in relation with mainstream Islam in Nigeria. We are equally nonplussed by the group’s refusal to recognize officially installed leaders. These are big and questionable minuses for IMN.

In the light of the above, we affirm that MURIC remains committed to the goals and aspirations of mainstream Islamdom which has been pursuing peaceful coexistence, neighbourliness, tolerance, love, forgiveness and, above all, sacrifice for our great country, Nigeria under the umbrella of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA). We advise IMN to retrace its footsteps in character and doctrine. In particular, IMN needs better image laundering in Kaduna State and the North in general.

Nonetheless, we stand by our word of caution. Everything possible must be done to avoid turning IMN into another terror machine. What we need in Nigeria to get out of the current recession is peace. We also need peace for economic growth and political stability. We cannot afford another Boko Haram.

As we round up, we appeal to Governor El-Rufai to ignore IMN’s unnecessary verbal war against his administration, avoid further bloody crackdown on the group and concentrate on the good work he has been doing in governance. We call on the Federal Government to investigate the serious allegation of possession of arms leveled against IMN. This will rest the controversy surrounding the labeling of IMN as an insurgent group once and for all.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)