We in the Apostolic Roundtable are still rolling our heads in laughter with the mushroom State Chapters of the one-man war-mongering Muslim Rights Concern that sprung up overnight, when we became seised of a statement written by one Sani Indawaba, a self-confessing Chairman of MURIC Kano State Chapter.
We wonder how these “Kano” , “Ogun” and “Akwa Ibom” State Chapters of the Muslim Rights Concern did not exist prior to our statement exposing Professor Ishaq Akintola’s Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) as a one man organisation.
Is this merely to prove a point or a real existence of State Chapters? This is even inferrable from the contents of the statement of the self-confessing Kano State Chairperson. According to the statement “… Dr Bolaji Akinyemi betrayed in his unmitigated caustic attack on MURIC and its irrepressible director, Professor Ishaq Akintola. In a display of a clearly agitated mind, the man resorted to character assassination by targeting Professor Akintola with intent to insolently malign and denigrate MURIC by claiming that the group is non-existing, “MURIC is Ishaq Akintola, he is all to it and all about it!”, he said. ”
We need to remind the likes of Indabawa that the Apostolic Roundtable is not just about Dr. Bolaji Akinyemi. The Apostolic Roundtable has always been encouraging peace and harmony .
We do not pitch Christian-Muslim hatred and bigotry.Our grind with MURIC is not the religion of Islam as Muslims have right to practice their religion. However, what we are against is MURIC’s exceptional obsession with deepening divisions between Christians and Muslims.
Reading from Indawaba’s statement , Professor Ishaq Akintola’s protege seems to misread our engagement as an “Akintola versus Akinyemi” saga.
Hear a bit of Indabawa’s mind: “…Professor Akintola has through a dint of hard work, cultivated formidable friends, associates and social networks across all the sections of Nigeria. Professor Akintola has successfully become a household name across the country by his consistent and powerful counter narrative to the displeasure of bigots and irredentists exemplified by the likes of Dr Akinyemi. Some divisive elements like Akinyemi find it very difficult to conceal their complex and envy in reacting to superior logic of Akintola.”
Why this hero-worship? If indeed MURIC is not a one-man personality cult , why are the different Chapters of MURIC falling on top each other to defend or eulogise just one individual in the organisation?
Indawaba betrays the religious misogyny that is the common denominator of MURICans. He went further to state “it is common knowledge that the emergence of MURIC, with Professor Akintola as the group’s founder and leader, has put the brakes to the insane suppression and oppression of Muslims, especially in the South West, where the Yoruba Muslims formed the majority. The hypocrisy of some groups like CAN and Afenifere is being exposed with the counter narrative provided by MURIC. The consistency and the well-articulated proficiency of MURIC’s series of press releases have evidently irritated the warped minds of the likes of Akinyemi. Instead of them to counter Akintola’s interventions with logic, they rather resorted to insults and name calling.”
Why the unprovoked attack on CAN and Afenifere? Is MURIC a front organisation of some disgruntled politicians who are interested in provoking an unprecedented war between Yoruba Muslims and Christians, who have lived together in peace for centuries ? Where is the evidence that The Apostolic Roundtable is attacking Yoruba Muslims?
To come to think of the fact that the writer is a self-confessing Northern Muslim pitching Yoruba Muslims against Yoruba Christians against the background of North-South ethnic relations is mind boggling.
The bile is further exposed when Indabawa stated “we all know how uncomfortable many Yoruba Christian elites become with the constant expose by MURIC. When Amotekun, a supposedly Pan-Yoruba security outfit was conceived and formed, Professor Akintola challenged the Yoruba leadership on why Yoruba Muslims were ostracized and not considered to be members of the regional security outfit. He also boldly stated the position of Yoruba Muslims by distancing themselves from the baseless agitation of the so-called Oduduwa Republic. MURIC similarly challenged the Afenifere on why no notable Yoruba Muslim figure was ever considered to be appointed as the group’s leader. Professor Akintola has equally spearheaded an advocacy for the emergence of a Yoruba Muslim as the next president of Nigeria.”
In fact the submission that MURIC is canvassing for a “Yoruba Muslim” as next President of Nigeria now suggests to the discerning mind that MURIC could be just the “hand of Esau” for the “voice of Jacob” of a particular politician who strangulated Afenifere after riding on their back to become Governor, who is now hell-bent on religious profiling and misogyny as tools of political advancement.
This is more the reason why the Apostolic Roundtable is convinced that persons such as Professor Ishaq Akintola, Hassan Sani Indabawa and his co-travellers need to be called to order by appropriate government authorities and the religious institutions of Islam in Nigeria.
If Hassan Sani Indabawa is as concerned about the plight of Muslims and their welfare as we are made to believe, then he should be dead worried about the statistics coming from Kano, a Muslim dominated and control State, or is their mushroom MURIC organization only interested in their South West patronizing politician becoming the President through their division among brethren?
He should consider this and get MURIC to assist his Kano or is this what the alliance of Lagos with Kano can produce?
Population: 18million
Number of Industries: 58
Number of Mosques: 435,389.
Number of Churches 674.
Number of Parentless wandering under-aged kids: 3.67million.
Number of Divorcee Women (including under 14): 857,443
Number of Jobless Youth: 3.8m.
As 2023 general elections draws near, we are of the view that the fragile peace of this country should not be blown apart by agents of power-mongering group serving interest of individual politicians
Dr. Yakubu Dauda,
From Sabon Gari, Kano State.
