1st June, 2022
PRESS RELEASE:
PRIMARIES: SHOW STATESMANSHIP AND PATRIOTISM -
MURIC
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has appealed to politicians
involved in the ongoing presidential primaries to show statesmanship and
patriotism in their attempts to pick presidential flagbearers for their various
political parties.
The appeal was issued in a statement
circulated to the media by the director of the organization, Professor Ishaq
Akintola, on Wednesday, 1st June, 2022.
The statement reads :
“We have observed with deep concern the
absence of decorum and the open display of wealth in the gubernatorial,
senatorial as well as the ongoing presidential primaries. Our hearts bleed as
moneycracy has been allowed to supplant democracy while equity and justice have
been trampled in the mud.
“We may all be politicians, but this is the
time to know the real statesmen and patriots. It is true that politicians only
think of the next election while statesmen think of the nation. This is the
time to differentiate between the politicians and the statesmen. Ordinary
politicians will totally marginalize the Christian South East as well as the
Muslim South West. But statesmen and patriots will partner with the South East
and South West.
“South West Muslims have been clamouring for a
Yoruba Muslim president as an escape route from the existential threat they
face in the hands of their fellow Yoruba Christians. They have not withdrawn
their clamour. They have not changed their demand and they have made it clear
that a Christian president from the South East or South South is more preferable
to a Yoruba Christian president who will most certainly embolden their fellow
Yoruba Christian oppressors.
“Nonetheless, those who say Atiku Abubakar
should not come to the East to campaign need to reconsider their stand. Power
is never dashed out on a platter of gold. It must be negotiated and contested.
Atiku is eminently qualified to seek the highest office in the land and we all
must be fair to him by giving him and other candidates a level playing ground.
That is true democracy. Democrats don’t issue threats. They vote their
consciences.
“Whatever may have been responsible for the
choice of a Northerner by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), other political
parties should prioritise equity, justice and fairness in their choice of
presidential flagbearers.
“It should be noted that MURIC does not speak
for the South or the North. Our interest is justice and equity. Our members are
both in the North and South. We are Fulani, Hausa, Kanuri, Igbo, Ibiobio, Efik,
Yoruba, etc. Our members are in all ethnic groups in the country.
“An organization whose
members are spread across the land cannot afford to focus on demands for any
particular region or tribe but at least we have a major constituency and a
permanent interest which are Nigeria, Nigerian Muslims, Nigerians in general, humanity,
equity and justice, in that order.
“The leader of MURIC may be a Yoruba man, yet
he must not carry the banner of Yoruba Muslims alone on his head, rather, his
interest at all times must be in harmony with those of Nigerian Muslims.
“We therefore call on the
remaining political parties whose presidential flagbearers have not been
decided to exhibit statesmanship and patriotism by paying attention to, and
giving priority, to the South in general.”
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern
(MURIC)
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