The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has declared that there is no Governor like President Bola Tinubu among the Governors and political leaders in the South West zone of the country.
The declaration is contained in a press release signed on Friday.
The release which was signed by the group’s Executive Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said its declaration followed the appointment of Chief Olayide Adelami as the new Deputy Governor of Ondo State, by Governor Lucky Ayedatiwa.
MURIC said its position is based on the Governor’s failure to pick a Muslim as his Deputy, despite demands to that effect from various Islamic bodies, including MURIC.
The full statement reads: “Governor Lucky Ayedatiwa yesterday appointed Chief Olayide Adelami, a Christian, as the new deputy governor of Ondo State.
“This appointment, in our opinion, is a direct rejection of the appeals made by several Islamic organisations including the Muslim community of Ondo State which controls about 40% of the total population. It also mirrors the insensitivity of Governor Lucky Ayedatiwa to the yearnings and aspirations of Muslims in Ondo State.
“The appointment further demonstrates the total lack of hypocrisy in the mantra of ‘religious tolerance’ as publicly brandished by Christian leaders and their politicians in the South West. If there is any scintilla of religious tolerance and inclusiveness, it has been coming from the Muslim politicians and the Muslim population in the region.
“Whereas President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sought to embrace inclusiveness and religious tolerance by giving top appointments to Christians, none of the Christian governors in the South West reciprocated by giving Muslims a similar treatment.
“Sanwo-Olu of Lagos gave the Christians 43 Commissioners but he gave Muslims a meagre 14. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State gave Christians 16 but he gave Muslims 4 only. In Oyo State, Seyi Makinde gave Christians 10 commissioners but gave Muslims 6.
“The worst is Osun State where the Christian governor, Ademola Adeleke keeps deceiving the people that he is a Muslim. He also has a Christian deputy. That is the extent of executive fraud. Despite this Christian-Christian ticket in Osun State, the number of Christian commissioners is 17 while that of Muslims is just 7.
“Ondo has 15 Christian commissioners against only 2 Muslims while Christian commissioners in Ekiti are 24 while the Muslims have 1 (one) only.
“Who is like Tinubu among the six Christian governors in Yorubaland? There is none. Who can treat Yoruba Muslims with the same magnanimity which Tinubu extended to Christians at Federal level? None that we know of.
“History will attest to Tinubu as the Muslim president who extended inclusiveness to hitherto hostile Christians. The annals will register Ayetilewa as the Christian governor of Ondo who could not stomach the thought of having a Muslim deputy. Chroniclers will not spare the intolerant Christian governors of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Ekiti who used their proverbial teeth to share the common patrimony of the South West but whom only Allah knows what they kept for their Christian brethren.
“Muslims are under heavy siege in the South West. They have become endangered species, oppressed, depressed, repressed, underemployed, overworked, underpaid, mere fish for evangelical fishermen, falcons caged for the falconer.”
