MURIC And Its Tales By Moonlight By Abdulhafis Abiade

I have the profoundest respect for the highly-revered Professor of Islamic studies, Ishaq Akintola, and the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC). Sadly, my admiration for the eminent scholar and the group he spearheads is on a downward spiral, no thanks to MURIC’s endorsement of Hanan Buhari’s stark misuse of the presidential plane.

MURIC’s half-arsed attempt to obscure the truth by conveniently passing off Hanan’s private engagement as a government function is deeply mortifying, and represents a far cry from the teachings of Islam and Prophet Muhammed. One would have expected the rights group to stand as a purveyor of truth, rather than spread falsehood. Has MURIC forgotten, among many others verses, Quran 9:199, which says “O you who believe! Be afraid of Allah, and be with those who are true (in words and deeds)?

Also reprehensible is MURIC’s fallacious attempt to excuse the gross abuse of office by deftly mentioning Patience Jonathan’s Dubai shopping spree. That MURIC expects Nigerians to ‘allow’ the reckless action of Hanan Buhari because the ex-first lady’s excess was seemingly more grievous shows the organisation’s cringe-worthy low perception of the people.

Toeing the path of the President, MURIC also faultily described Nigerian youths as Lazy. Maybe MURIC needs to be reminded that many Nigerian graduates work lowly-paid jobs just to get by in the resolve-dampening entity called Nigeria. How lazy!

MURIC’s incessant straw-clutching efforts to deflect criticism away from the inadequacies of the Buhari regime makes one wonder if the organisation is on the payroll of the Buhari Media Center. I hope not. Perhaps, MURIC is blindly loyal to Buhari that it fails to draw the line when necessary and places loyalty above truth.

MURIC is quickly degenerating into another Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), another religious body that was in bed with the Jonathan administration. Perhaps, it should stick to defending the rights of Muslims, particularly in the North-East where the subjugation of adherents of the religion, brought upon by the failures of successive governments, is highest. That is a far more commendable cause than rubber-stamping every roguery and inactions of the increasingly self-serving, despotic Buhari regime.