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Muslim Rights Concern blasts Kaduna government for labelling Shiite IMN “insurgent group”

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The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has condemned the Kaduna State Government for declaring the Shiite IMN an “insurgent group”.

The civic group described the action of the Kaduna State Government as “a very dangerous dimension.”

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Kaduna State Government in its White Paper released on Monday stated that “for all intent and purpose, the IMN is an insurgent group and ought to be treated as such.”

The government said it would prosecute the detained leader of the IMN, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, for all the “other crimes” his group has committed in the past 30 years.

Mr. El-Zakzaky and his wife have been detained without trial since December last year after soldiers killed over 300 members of his group.

The soldiers accused the IMN members of blocking the road and plotting to kill the Army Chief, Tukur Buratai, a claim the Shiites denied.

The killing was condemned by local and international rights group.

In its statement on Tuesday signed by its director, Ishaq Akintola, apart from condemning the Kaduna government, MURIC also cautioned the IMN on its past actions calling on members of the group “to do some self-assessment.”

Read MURIC’s full statement below.

Kaduna State Government yesterday declared the embattled Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) an insurgent group.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) rejects this new label for an otherwise pacific organization. The new declaration is nothing short of calling a dog a bad name in other to hang it. Kaduna State government is being economical with the truth, killing a fly with a sledge hammer and engaging in executive tyranny.

This is a very dangerous dimension. Coming shortly after a competent court of law ordered the release of the IMN leader, Shaykh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky from detention, this stigmatization is just another attempt by the state government to jump the gun. The declaration is short in equity, long in injustice. But we must remember Martin Luther’s warning that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Kaduna government is pregnant with ingredients of all the five evils which Chamberlain spoke about, viz, brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution. Why is it that the only thing men learn from history is that they learn nothing from history? Kaduna has not learnt anything from the Boko Haram phenomenon. Kaduna has chosen to prove both Hegel and Karl Marx right in their postulate that history always repeats itself.

MURIC is however constrained to remind all stakeholders of the divine warning contained in Qur’an 8:25 “Fear a tumult which will affect those who caused it as well as the innocent ones”. Was this not how Boko Haram started? Police brutality and extra-judicial killing of the group’s leader caused its metamorphosis into a terror machine. But is it the police alone that are facing the consequences today?

MURIC calls on well-meaning Nigerians to speak out. It was the great Shaykh Uthman Bin Fudi (Uthman Dan Fodio) who said, “In an unjust society, silence is a crime…” Let us speak up now before it is too late.

But members of the IMN also need to do some self-assessment. Something must be wrong with a system against which so many neighbours testify. Several people (including Muslims) confirm that they had had bitter encounters with members of the IMN. They complain about the group’s open display of arrogance. All those people could not have been lying. Something must be wrong with a doctrine which embarrasses the rest of The Muslim Ummah and from which they dissociate themselves.

We commend the leadership of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) for its efforts in resolving the IMN debacle and the maturity it has manifested in handling the matter. Due to the sensitive nature of the issue, NSCIA has engaged in quiet diplomatic shuttling between governments and the IMN from the beginning. We urge the NSCIA to continue the dialogue.

In conclusion, we appeal to the Kaduna State government to de-label IMN and begin a process of reconciliation and reorientation for its members. That is the path of visionary leadership and responsible governance. It is the path of peace. On its own part, IMN must improve its relationship with other Islamic organizations.

With Trump’s victory, suspend your US trips – MURIC tells Muslims.

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The Muslim Rights Concern has urged Nigerians to suspend their planned trips to the United States of America.

The position of MURIC is coming two days after Republican Donald Trump won the US presidential election.

MURIC said it was ill-advised for any Muslim to go to the US for now in a statement signed by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola.

The statement said Trump’s victory has serious implications for Muslims in the United States and elsewhere around the world.

It said his Americanisation of virtually everything coupled with his tortuous isolationism and a pathological obsession with Islamophobia calls for grave concern.

The statement added: “The contemptuous treatment of Muslims travelling in or out of America has long been a matter of serious concern to advocates of free movement and Allah-given fundamental human rights. Coupled with this is the horrendous policy of rendition whereby Muslims are kidnapped en route other destinations and forcefully taken to the dreaded Guatemala to face America’s notorious waterbodding and other forms of inhuman treatment.

“The advent of Donald Trump is the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The American President-Elect has divided America along racial and religious lines. He threatened to close mosques. He also swore to give Muslims a special data base in order to control terrorism.

“Trump may be an iconoclast, but the Americans who voted for him were not deaf. They heard him loud and clear. They heard all his threats. The victory of Trump, particularly coming hot on the heels of Brexit, means that Western democracies are jettisoning globalization for nationalism.

“MURIC respects the wish of Americans to stand by their national interest. We call on Muslims around the world to also respect the wish of the American people to be left alone.

“Nonetheless, we reiterate our avowed rejection of racist and hate speeches. We disown violent groups like Al-Qaidah and ISIS who instigate Muslims to kill Americans and attack American and Western interests. Qur’an 49:13 is a categorical vote for the universality of mankind and Islam is a religion for all nations. Therefore no nation should be set aside for hatred.

“We urge Muslims around the world to nurse no malice against Americans over Trump’s victory and the likely fallout. It should be noted that few Americans support Trump’s weird policies. He won the election via the electoral college but received fewer votes than Hillary Clinton. The victory of Trump reveals the paradoxical underbelly of the world’s greatest democracy. American minority has had its way.

“Finally, we appeal to Nigerian Muslims to suspend planned trips to the United States until they know which way the cat will jump. Any Nigerian Muslim who ignores this advice is on his own. We also advise immigrant Muslims residing in the United States to return to their countries or be prepared for harsh treatments including increased Islamophobic attacks. Americans must be allowed to fix their own country.”

We Reject Goodluck Jonathan As ‘Advocate Of Peace’ – MURIC

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Press Release]

By Muslim Right Concern

Outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan said on Friday 22nd May, 2015 that he would be an advocate of peace in the country after leaving office. He was quoted as saying, “One thing that I have decided to do after leaving office, is to make sure that I will be talking to all faithful of all religions, Christians, Muslims and other religions the need for Nigerians to live in peace.”

While we agree that there is every need for peaceful coexistence, we of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) regard Mr. President’s latest declaration as immodest, belated, hypocritical and an absolute afterthought.

President Jonathan’s request to become an ambassador of peace is baffling. People do not ask for honour. It is given freely, willingly and spontaneously. Honour is earned through quality leadership, not demanded and snatched via rough tackles and arm-twisting. People who are truly honourable do not lobby for it. The quality of honour is like the golden fish. Honour has no place to hide. People will see it wherever it is even without showing itself. So why is our outgoing president parading himself as a peace ambassador?

A peace ambassador must be acceptable to all parties but the case of Jonathan is different. He is not acceptable as an ambassador to Nigerian Muslims. We cannot accept Jonathan as a go-between in matters affecting us and our Christian neighbours because his sins against us are so many that we have stopped counting. But we continued to respect him because of his exalted office. We believe that respect for the office of Mr. President is respect for our country, Nigeria.

MURIC complained when President Jonathan marginalized Muslims in ministerial and other appointments. We cried out when Jonathan turned his national conference to an overwhelmingly Christian conference. There are many more. Just recently and a few days to handing over to a new administration, Jonathan gave Nigerian Muslims a direct slap on the face when he selected members of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) without consulting Muslim leaders at all. How can Jonathan shave our heads in our absence? No good ambassador will do this.

It means that if he becomes ambassador of peace, at worst, he would just sit down in Otuoke, invite the Christians and take a decision without meeting the Muslims. Or, at best, he would ignore the recognized leadership of Nigerian Muslims and simply handpick the minority Muslims in his state to represent all the Muslims of Nigeria. Respect begets respect. Jonathan has forgotten that people below are watching those on top.

How can Jonathan be an ambassador of peace? His militant kinsmen threatened the rest of Nigeria with hell on earth if he lost the election and he kept quiet. His wife publicly insulted Northerners in particular and Nigerian Muslims in general calling us people who produce children without caring for them and the husband kept mute. Jonathan has no sense of justice. Neither can he call those under him to order. How can such a man be crowned ambassador of peace?

  Except the few political jobbers in his government, Nigerian Muslims have no confidence in President Jonathan. How can we repose confidence in him when we could not get justice, fairness and equal rights under him? How can we accept him as an ambassador of peace and a fair umpire when he was not fair to us when he was in government. President Jonathan wants to be rewarded for what he did not work for. He wants to sow where he did not reap. We will not accept that.

Nigerian Muslims know political and religious leaders who deserve their respect and who they can accept as ambassadors of peace. We do not wish to be misunderstood. There are Christians among such leaders whom we respect. Even the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has produced leaders who are devoid of prejudice and hatred against Nigerian Muslims. ArchBishop John Onaiyekan, former CAN president is one of such leaders. Bishop Idowu Fearon of Kaduna Diocese is another. There are many others.

Jonathan’s claim to deserving ambassadorial honour between Christians and Muslims is false, baseless and therefore unacceptable. In fact, by marginalizing Muslims and maltreating them, Jonathan did more harm to Christians in Nigeria because those actions of malice against Muslims stoked up anti-Christian sentiments in the minds of the former.

Any leader who engages in favouritism for people of his own faith while ignoring those of another creed is setting the two groups against each other. MURIC therefore advises the President-Elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to pursue a policy of fairness and openness to all, to give unto Christians all rights and priviledges due to them without forgetting the demands and complaints of Muslims.

What Nigeria needs is not necessarily a Christian or a Muslim. We need a leader with an iron will, a leader to whom riches mean nothing, a leader who cares and feels for the jamaheer (masses), a leader who has zero tolerance for corruption and utmost respect for the rule of law.

We advise President Jonathan to stop building castles in the air and to face the reality on ground. He is not leaving office as a hero but as a leader who messed up the economy of his country, glorified corruption and divided Nigeria along religious and ethnic lines. How can such a man demand the exalted position of a peace ambassador?

Finally, we urge the international community to ignore Jonathan’s image-laundering efforts after his woeful performance in office. He is not acceptable to Nigerian Muslims as a peace ambassador. Rather, we regard him as one of the major causes of Nigeria’s woes, an unmitigated disaster in Nigeria’s search for quality leadership and the worst president Nigeria should never have had.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

MURIC Gives Okupe Knocks For Blaming Jonathan’s Defeat On Chibok Girls’ Abduction

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The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has lampooned the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, for attributing the defeat of his principal in the March 28 elections to his failure to rescue the Chibok girls.

Okupe had last week attempted to link the president’s failed re-election bid to an international conspiracy and abduction of over 200 female students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State, claiming the incident was orchestrated to portray the administration as incompetent.

In its reaction, MURIC, through its Executive Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, in a statement on Monday, said that it was unfortunate for Okupe to be playing on the intelligence of Nigerians by saying that the girls abducted over a year ago by the Boko Haram insurgents was staged in order to paint a bad image of President Jonathan’s administration.

“While we appreciate President Jonathan’s timely act of conceding defeat in the presidential election, we hasten to assert that this single act alone is not enough to obliterate his litany of abnormalities in governance. Doyin Okupe’s attempt at praise-singing his employer has only succeeded in jogging our memory. Nigerians cannot forget so quickly”, Akintola said.

While listing some of the sins of the president, which came to haunt him at the polls, the MURIC boss pointed out that Mr. Jonathan paid the price for allowing his wife to usurp his executive powers apart from the continual threats by his Ijaw kinsmen among others.

He added that even a state governor was forced to drive himself from Kano to the South because his aircraft was not allowed to take off with security agencies used to subvert legitimate exercises embarked upon by the opposition while they openly supported illegal acts of members of the ruling party including the Buhari “certificategate”, which rather discredited the army.

Mr. Akintola, therefore, urged the incoming administration to learn from the mistakes of the Jonathan administration and that President-elect Muhammadu Buhari must rise above religious persecution and clannishness by carrying along all religious and ethnic segments of the country.