MURIC declares support for Sharia in South West

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has backed the introduction of Sharia in the South-West region of Nigeria.

MURIC also told Christians to “mind their business”.

The comment followed a warning by the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), against any move to introduce Sharia law in Yoruba States, through the ongoing constitutional review by the Senate.

MURIC director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, accused Christians of always being the first to fire shots and heat up the polity.

“PFN and other Christian groups are fully aware that Shariah was in the South West decades before the arrival of Christianity in 1842. Shariah was practiced in Ede under Oba Abibu Olagunju (Habeeb, a Muslim name) and the Ede Shariah Court operated up till 1913 at Agbeni area of the town. It was moved to Agbongbon area in 1914.

“Shariah was applied in Iwo under Oba Momodu Lamuye (Muhammad Lamuye) who died in 1906. Even the seventh Akirun of Ikirun, Oba Aliyu Oyewole (died 1912), instituted Shariah in Ikirun in 1910. These are just examples of the existence and spread of Shariah in Yorubaland and the Christian leaders are not oblivious of the fact that it was the British Christian colonialists who stopped Shariah in Yorubaland and imposed Christian common law.

“However, they are equally aware of the rising tide of Islamic awareness in the same South West. They have seen the hitherto passive Muslim community being transformed into an active, articulate and politically conscious populace. They are afraid that the sleeping giant is waking up to take back what belongs to it.”

MURIC called on Nigerians to understand the siege mentality of Christians who, like “all aggressors”, believe that attack is the best form of defence.

The Islamic group said as the benefactors and inheritors of colonial rampage that lasted more than a century, Christians are determined to keep all the loot which their principal bequeathed to them.

“They have forgotten that the only thing that is constant in life is change. We are worried about the voyeuristic disorder which has again manifested in the PFN. It is a Peeping Tom syndrome that propels our Christian neighbours to crane their necks in order to see what is in the pot of soup of the Muslims. It is called ‘giraffing’ in examination hall parlance.”

Akintola recalled that the Constitution Review Panel asked Nigerians to forward their views regarding what they want in the constitution.

The director said instead of telling the panel what the Christians want, PFN was insisting on what they do not want Muslims to ask for.

“The issue is what do the Christians want? It is clear that they have been over-pampered by the colonial master who handed over our common patrimony to them on a platter of gold. So now they want nothing because they already have all they need. But they want to sustain the status quo because it favours them.