The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has described the Vice
President, Yemi Osinbajo’s Presidential declaration as unethical and purely
evangelical.
MURIC said Osinbajo’s Presidential declaration looked like
back-stabbing Bola Tinubu, National Leader of the All Progressives Congress,
APC.
The group stated this in a statement signed by its founder
and Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
Akintola accused Osinbajo of carrying out an instruction of
the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, following the creation of a
political department.
The Islamic Human rights organization said Osinbajo’s
declaration was against the agenda of the Southwest.
The statement reads: “The Vice President of Nigeria,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday declared his intention to run for the post
of president in the coming 2023 general elections. This declaration, to our
mind, will not pass any ethical screening. It is purely evangelical.
“As a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG),
Osinbajo is simply carrying out his own part of the RCCG instruction dished out
a few weeks ago on the creation of a political department in all parts of
Nigeria. We see Osinbajo as the arrow head of the RCCGisation of the Nigerian
polity. His declaration must therefore be seen as a demonstration of his own
loyalty and obedience to the directive which came from the RCCG headquarters.
“But MURIC cannot keep quiet after Osinbajo’s declaration
because it is not in consonance with our agenda for the South West. We have
never hidden this agenda from public view as it was made public as far back as
February 2021 when we declared our preference for a Yoruba Muslim president.”
MURIC reiterated its call for a Yoruba Muslim President in
2023.
He added: “We anchored our cassus belli for this preference
on the persecution of Yoruba Muslims by their Christian neighbours and we
rationalised that we need a Yoruba Muslim as president of Nigeria in order to
liberate Yoruba Muslims from decades of marginalisation, impoverishment,
oppression, persecution, tyranny and injustice. This is a struggle we cannot
abandon at this crucial stage.
“Can Osinbajo tell us he is unaware of the persecution of
Muslims in the South West all these years? Was he not the attorney general in
Lagos State when Muslims in the state were forced to take the hijab case to
court? Was he not the attorney general in the state when the lower court did
its judicial somersault? Can he, in good conscience, wash his hands off that
case?
“Is Osinbajo also unaware of several incidents of religious
oppression against innocent Muslim students in public schools spread all over
Yorubaland since he became vice president? Has he ever commented on these
cases? By the way, what is the vice president’s view on the right of Muslim
women and Muslim female students to use hijab now that he wants to be president
in a country with a majority Muslim population? This is a special question for
the vice president. Nigerian Muslims want to know.
“If he has always pretended not to know about the
persecution and marginalisation of Muslims in Yorubaland, will his ascension to
the highest office in the land not worsen these incidents of humiliation and
intimidation of our mothers, our wives and our beloved daughters? Won’t our
traducers grow a thousand times in impunity and cruelty knowing fully well that
central power is in their hands now that a pastor is the president of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria?
“Osinbajo’s declaration presupposes that Yoruba Christians
are born to rule. It gives the provocative impression that Yoruba Muslims are
‘children of slaves’ (a la Ishmael and Isaac storyline) who should never taste
power. As we have argued in earlier press statements, all the four Yorubas who
have been in Aso Rock were Christians: Olusegun Obasanjo, Earnest Shonekan,
Oladipo Diya and the incumbent vice president Yemi Osinbajo.
“If Osinbajo is basking in the born-to-rule syndrome of the
RCCG, he should remember that a Muslim, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, brought him
to limelight when he served under him as a commissioner in his cabinet. No
matter how much they try to rewrite history, nobody can wish that fact away. The
same Tinubu brought up your name ab initio in connection with his current
position in Aso Rock.
“If the above is true (and it is), the fact that Tinubu
declared on 22nd January, 2022, when he met President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso
Rock makes Osinbajo’s declaration look like a stab in the back. The vice
president cannot claim to be unaware of what even a three months old baby knows
already. Or is this how to repay goodness and mentorship? There is something
immoral about Osinbajo’s declarationIt stands in contradistinction to a
cardinal Yoruba concept, the ‘omoluabi’ concept. . It is absolutely
‘unomoluabi’.
“Even the RCCG angle now becomes more interesting.
Osinbajo’s declaration comes across as pure evangelisation particularly in view
of the declaration of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) directing all
its parishes to open political offices in support of its members seeking
political posts. The proselytization of the presidency by no other person than
the vice president himself is an unprecedented and dangerous development. No
high level candidate in a general election has ever done it in this country.
“Osinbajo’s political party, the All Progressive Congress
(APC) should watch it. Nobody should underrate the perspicacity of Nigerian
Muslims. We will reject any party that promotes Redeemisation by forcing an
RCCG pastor on Muslim electorates. MURIC is not in alliance with any political
party. It is already certain that APC will lose the votes of Yoruba Muslims if
it fields an RCCG pastor. We need no rocket science to know that.
“The Yoruba people and the political parties should also
consider another interesting angle in this matter, namely, the preponderance of
Ogun State indigenes among those Yorubas who have been in Aso Rock. All four
are from one state (Ogun State). Three were from Abeokuta to be precise.
Osinbajo is from Ikenne. Why must all Yoruba rulers of Nigeria come from Ogun
State alone? What happened to spread? What happened to balancing? Where is
inclusivity in the monopoly of leadership by one state?
“MURIC is not worried by this but we think Osinbajo should
mellow down and give someone from another state the chance to rule. Asiwaju
Tinubu is definitely not from Ogun State. By being vice president for good
eight years, Osinbajo has had a good taste of the pudding.
“We are resolved not to vote for the rallying point of our
oppressors. More importantly, Northern Muslims will not vote for the candidate
of the RCCG particularly after the RCCG made so much noise about creating a
political department a few weeks ago. It was an audacious, contemptuous and
repugnant confrontation. Osinbajo’s declaration is not only a concretisation of
RCCG’s temerity, it is a ludicrous attempt to ‘RCCGise’ or ‘Redeemise’ the
polity. We advise Osinbajo to ‘undeclare.”
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I have the absolute belief that any Nigerian who is fully qualified should have the right to contest for the highest office. The issue of religion and politics have brought about disunity in the country. Why not look for a candidate that will deliver the country from poverty, insecurity and lack of foresight. I would rather vote an individual who has no direct or indirect commitment to any religion. Nigeria, I must confess, lack a progressive leadership. Any leader who pretends to be unaware of the level of corruption in Nigeria is fooling himself. I fervently pray for a forward looking leader who is capable of bringing about a dynamic progress and good leadership to the country. Issue emanating from tribalism, nepotism should not be allowed in the next administration. Nigeria needs a leader who will close his eyes and do what is right for the country. Our prayers should center around who is capable of eradicating religious bigotry and nepotism. These two things are the major problems that the country is facing. I would not fail to mention that Nigeria needs a genuine heads count so as to know the true position of our censure. It appears the censure is inaccurate and a laudable one initiated. Let there be a true Federalism. Let there be a genuine Constitution. What we have now in term of constitution is a forced constitution on the populace. The truth must be said in order to enhance progress and unity in the country. Conclusively, I sincerely pray that our Creator interfere directly in the forthcoming election. We need a man of honor that is capable of uniting the country, a man with vision and self respect from all works of life in Nigeria.
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