A Jean Monnet professor of strategy and development and director general at the Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS), Anthony Kila, has called the attention of the Yoruba people, nay, Nigerians to the activities of the Muslim Rights Concerns Group (MURIC) and its threat to religious harmony and peaceful co-existence.
Kila, in a widely-circulated article entitled ‘A threat called MURIC’ stated that the group is, by all accounts “numerically small, led and represented mainly by a seemingly innocuous scholar of Islamic studies called Professor Ishaq Akintola.
For quite some time now, Kila said MURIC has, by a deliberate, voluntary and coordinated effort, consistently and growingly become the leading voice for unnecessary and toxic divisiveness.
He said the promoter of the group “is now more known for his MURIC activities than his dedication to Islamic eschatology.”
He called the attention of the public to Akintola’s recent religious incitement against GOTV, alleging that the pay television terrestrial service “is forcing Christianity on Nigerian Muslims, and they have called on, rather they have instructed the international television outfit to cease transmission of Christian programmes or be faced consequences that range from Muslims de-subscribing from GOTV to other consequences.”
Continuing, Kila said Akintola had pronounced a subtle fatwa on GOTV.
“MURIC gave the station seven days to comply or face its wrath—a sort of fatwa- for the obnoxious, prejudiced and ill-advised practice of televising Christian programmes. Yes, in 2024, Professor Ishaq Akintola considers televising Christian programmes obnoxious, prejudiced and ill-advised,” he said.
Kila also recalled how Akintola and his MURIC had called for a rejection of the governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu not because of any act or omission as governor.
“The rejection was not justified by any allegation of anti-Muslim or anti-Islamic policies or programmes. It did not even accuse Sanwo-Olu of discriminatory appointments and nominations.
“Instead, it was based on a call for a rotation that hinged on flawed arithmetic and a historical understanding of Lagos. MURIC wanted Babajide Sanwo-Olu out of office simply because he is a Christian.
“Yorubaland, where MURIC operates freely and is recognised and given a chair on discussion tables, rightly prides itself on its cosmopolitanism.
“In Yorubaland and culture, there is no basis for religious separation, let alone religious discrimination; everybody is related to someone from another religion.
“That everybody is related to someone from another religion in Yorubaland is a factual, not a symbolic, statement. This harmonious lifestyle has allowed Yoruba people to separate religion from politics easily, and it has never mattered to them how a politician prays or what they eat.
“The easily predictable effect of such arrangements is that, in most cases, merit and personal relationships trump religious sectarianism,” said Kila.
The professor of strategy said “it is time to tell Professor Ishaq Akintola that he and his MURIC threaten our harmonious living in Yorubaland and that we will soon start treating them as a threat.
“He has a choice: he and those who think like him can move to where the Taliban rule; we have a duty to save ourselves from his ilk and similar threats,” he added.
Kila said it “is difficult to precisely diagnose why MURIC will want to destroy our enviable harmony” stressing that Akintola and his group want “to turn Yorubaland into the Nigeria of today wherein division or at least suspicion of division reigns.”
He said there are politicians who, for their ambition, need to divide people into religious and ethnic groups and MURIC not being a political group may be acting as an agent at the behest of a principal.
“If such a principal exists and MURIC is an agent, it is because such a principal cannot show their face, and their intention cannot be good for our democracy and harmony,” he said.
Concluding, Kila said: “The freedom that we and even MURIC enjoy and allows us to live in peace and for prosperity, no matter how relative and improvable the situation, is the fruit of a system that enables us to learn, love and trade in harmony, not division and suspicion.
“It is the duty of all of us to judiciously and jealously guard that harmony and democracy against all those who threaten it openly and consistently.
“Our religious leaders and academics, as well as our politicians and the media, must show they have foresight. Today, the threat is MURIC; tomorrow, it might be someone worse.”