Anthony Kila writes on the need for the leadership of the Muslim Rights Concerns Group to be tolerant with opposing views in the course of living harmoniously with people who profess different religions.
Dear Readers,
As I have had the course to point out in other epistles, “How did we get here?” is a refrain often heard among a defined group of the society that you probably belong to -as a reader of these notes. It works this way: in the face of news of violence by criminals and terrorists, or about the sloppiness of public officers, preposterous demands and ideas from organised groups in the society, and the desperate and desolate state of citizens and consumers, I am sure that just like me, you have found yourself asking or being asked the question “how did we get here?”.
We tend to hear and use such a common refrain when faced with heart-wrenching events and the uncomforting state of the country. The “How did we get here?” refrain comes up, especially when the sad events we are informed about or have to deal with are either totally alien to our usual or imagined way of being a people or contrary to our projected or desired idea of Nigeria.
I have often replied that “we got here” because of our inability to recognise the possible drama, where not tragedy, a comedy can lead to. Evil rarely happens all of a sudden; it tends to come gradually from lone voices and little accidents.
It then grows into disaster when we don’t curb or at least recognise it for what it is and when it rears its head. It is easy in this context to see how correct the Spanish essayist and philosopher, BaltasarGracián is when he warns us, “Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it”.
The Muslim Rights Concerns Group, known as MURIC, is, by all accounts, a numerically small group whose strength lies in its access to media and other communication channels. Many of us started noticing the group on WhatsApp and then in the Press. Let us be clear: there is nothing wrong with being small and no particular virtue in being big.
MURIC is led and represented mainly by a seemingly innocuous scholar of Islamic studies called Professor IshaqAkintola. He is now more known for his MURIC activities than his dedication to Islamic eschatology. It is what an individual or a group does that matters.
And therein lies the rub because for some time now, MURIC, by a deliberate, voluntary and coordinated effort, has consistently and growingly become the leading voice for unnecessary and toxic divisiveness.
A simple search online will give you a clear idea of what I mean. I suggest you type in MURIC into any search engine of your choice. The result will amaze you.
This last time we dedicated some time to Professor IshaqAkintola and his MURIC on this page was when he, in the name of MURIC, called for a rejection of BabajideSanwo-Olu as governor of Lagos State, not because of any act or omission as governor. Then, 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 BabajideSanwo-Olu out of office simply because he is a Christian.
We pointed out then that Yorubaland, where MURIC operates freely and is recognised and given a chair on discussion tables, rightly prides itself on its cosmopolitanism.
We reflected aloud then that in Yorubaland and culture, there is no basis for religious separation, let alone religious discrimination; everybody is related to someone from another religion.
Please note that saying 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.
Clearly, such not-so-subtle reflections have affected Professor IshaqAkintola and his MURIC. They have continued in their ways, and just on the last day of November 2024, they came out to say that GOTV 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. 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 IshaqAkintola considers televising Christian programmes obnoxious, prejudiced and ill-advised.
It is time to tell Professor IshaqAkintola 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.
It is difficult to precisely diagnose why MURIC will want to destroy our enviable harmony. Because there is no clear benefit to most, it is not logical to conclude that of its own volition, MURIC wants to turn Yorubaland into the Nigeria of today wherein division or at least suspicion of division reigns.
Such a conclusion will not make sense without explaining why. There are politicians who, for their ambition, need to divide people into religious and ethnic groups. They tend to do so to take advantage of their people and subjugate those different from them. By its admission, MURIC is not a political group. Are we to suspect that MURIC is acting as an agent at the behest of a principal?
Yes, you are right. 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.
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.
Join me on Twitter to continue this conversation @anthonykila
-Kila is the Institute Director at CIAPS.
