28th January 2020
PRESS RELEASE:
ARREST, PROSECUTE THOSE WHO THREATENED
AKINTOLA
A twitter handler directed a death threat to the director and founder of
our Islamic human rights organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola, about a week
ago. He wrote a chilling comment on Professor Akintola’s picture and posted it.
The post was, in turn, screenshot from the Whatshap status of a contact who
identified herself as Tosin Elizabeth a.k.a ‘Hidee’ with telephone number
08163964812.
The death threat was issued under the
caption, ‘THIS COBRA NEEDS
TO BE KILLED’ and the exact words used were:
“There is one big COBRA we must kill,
before it kills all of us with its venom. This MURIC man, Professor Ishaq
Akintola, must be tamed, else he will succeed in destroying Yorubaland with
venom from his religious stupidity. He sees, he talks and behaves like a big
radical Taliban. He’s an agent of disunity, and must be called to order before
it is too late.”
We, the chairmen of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) branches from the
South West, specifically from Ekiti (Murician Qasim Salahudeen), Ogun (Murician
Tajudeen Jimoh), Oyo (Murician Salahudeen Abdul Wasiu), Osun (Murician
Marufdeen Odedeji), Ondo (Murician Abdul Ganiyu Maroof) and Lagos (Murician
Shefiu Ayorinde) hereby totally and categorically condemn the death threat issued
against Professor Ishaq Akintola, the director of our organization.
This death threat is Satanic and provocative. It is capable of causing
religious crisis not only in the South West but in Nigeria as a whole. Apart
from revealing a desire to assassinate our director, it is also an incitement
of the Yoruba people against the founder and director of our organisation. We insist
that no harm must come to Professor Ishaq Lakin Akintola.
It is clear from the words used in the death threat that the brain
behind the satanic message is a Yoruba person who feels aggrieved by MURIC’s
stand on the Amotekun security outfit which the governors of the South West
have proposed. For the avoidance of doubt, MURIC did not oppose the
establishment of a security unit in Yorubaland so long as it is for better
security. MURIC only opposed the way Muslims in the region have been sidelined
in the arrangement. We reject the idea of collecting birth certificate from
churches or letters of recommendation from pastors.
Is that why our leader must be killed? Is
that why Akintola became your first target? Is there no freedom of speech in
this country? Are we not in a democracy? Is this how you want to treat Muslims
after establishing Amotekun? We are certain that your intention is to turn
Amotekun to a terror machine. You want to train assassins for eliminating
Muslim leaders one by one.
Yoruba Muslims have the right to speak freely. We are in the land
of our ancestors. We are not foreigners. Nobody can expel us from the land of
Oduduwa. We will continue to exercise our fundamental human rights without fear
while we remain peaceful and law abiding. We are willing to live peacefully
with our neighbours whether they are Christians, traditionalists or atheists. The
Nigerian Constitution accommodates all faiths. We are even ready to join the
new security outfits in our different states once the religious bias is removed
and the legal technicalities are resolved. But no true Muslim will give his or
her blessing to a security organization which begins by showing anti-Muslim
bias and targeting our Muslim brothers in the North.
For the sake of clarity, we affirm that MURIC is a peace-loving
organization and our motto is ‘Dialogue, Not Violence’. Incidentally, our
leader, Professor Akintola, is also a peace-loving man. He has never engaged in
violence or supported any violent group. He has always condemned Boko Haram and
promoted peaceful coexistence among the adherents of different faiths. Akintola
is also an anti-corruption jihadist.
The implications of attacking the director of MURIC will have
far-reaching effect because MURIC is not about one man. Its membership spreads
beyond the South West to the North. Those who have been used to persecuting the
Muslims while the same oppressors shout to high heaven without anybody
challenging them now see him as a threat because he has challenged the status
quo and changed the narrative.
Already, there is tension among the Muslims over the threat to
Akintola and the Nigerian Council for Shariah (South West zone) issued a statement
on the threat on Sunday, 27th January, 2020. Therefore, anybody
planning to attack such a man is planning to plunge Nigeria into another
crisis.
We wish to warn those behind the death threat against Akintola to
know what they are up against. Think well before you act. Akintola is the voice
of the voiceless Muslims in Nigeria and he is recognized as such throughout the
length and breadth of the country. You cannot attack such a person and get away
with it so easily. Don’t cause trouble in Nigeria.
This January 2020 alone, Akintola emerged as Number 4 Most Important
Muslim in Nigeria for year 2019. This was the outcome of a public ranking
conducted by a Nigerian newspaper. Also in 2019, our director and founder was turbaned
the ‘Lion of Islam’ (Kinniun Adinni) by the League of Imams, Ikotun, Lagos
State. We all know what it means for hundreds of Imams to unanimously agree to
give such a title to an Islamic scholar. We do not need to remind those threatening
to kill our director that the lion is the king of all animals, including the
leopard (amotekun). What do you think will happen if the leopard attempts to
launch an attack on the lion?
In conclusion, we hereby call
upon the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Department
of State Security (DSS) to unmask, apprehend and prosecute those who threatened
Professor Ishaq Akintola and to provide adequate protection for him. Professor
Akintola is a tax payer and deserves to be well protected. We believe that the
security agencies will understand the enormity of the issue and realise that it
is a matter of national interest. We affirm that Allah is the best protector
and the Most Merciful (Glorious Qur’an 12:64). We also restate our full
confidence in the ability of the Nigerian security agencies to get to the
bottom of the matter, particularly with the lead provided above as the person
on whose status the threat was screenshot (Tosin Elizabeth a.k.a ‘Hidee’, telephone number
08163964812).
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria
1. Murician Qasim Salahudeen
Chairman, MURIC, Ekiti Chapter
2.
Murician Salahudeen Abdul Wasiu
Ag. Chairman, MURIC, Oyo Chapter
3.
Murician Marufdeen Odedeji
Chairman, MURIC, Oshun Chapter
4.
Murician Tajudeen Jimoh
Chairman, MURIC, Ogun Chapter
5.
Murician Ganiyu Maroof
Chairman, MURIC, Ondo Chapter
6.
Murician Shefiu Ayorinde,
Chairman, Lagos Chapter
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