Oduduwa News

The leader of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Professor Ishaq Akintola has said that 2023 presidential ticket must be given to a Yoruba Muslim.

MURIC, in a release signed by its director, Professor Akintola said former President Olusegun Obasanjo is making plans to draft Akinwunmi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AFDB), into the 2023 presidential race.

MURIC said Obasanjo’s attempt to draft Adesina, who is a Yoruba Christian, into the race negates the principles of fairness, justice and equity.

The group noted that while three Yoruba Christians have “occupied Aso Rock villa”, not a single Yoruba Muslim has been allowed to hold the position of president or vice president since independence.

MURIC described it as “an attempt to rob Yoruba Muslims of the presidential slot”, adding that it violates the principle of inclusiveness.

“Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo is reportedly making attempts to draft the current president of the African Development Bank (ADB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, into the 2023 presidential race. We object to this move. Obasanjo wants to waste all the efforts put in place by the Nigerian government to get Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina to that continental position,” the statement reads.

“We remind the former president that as a Yoruba Christian, he has led Nigeria twice. Two other Yoruba Christians have also occupied Aso Rock. Chief Earnest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan was the interim head of state from 26th August 1993 to 17th November, 1993. The current vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, is also a Yoruba Christian.

“It is an open secret that Yoruba Muslims who form the majority of the population in the South West are being denied their Allah-given fundamental human rights.

“This has led to complaints and court cases initiated by Muslims across Yorubaland over political and religious persecution. Yoruba Muslims are at the receiving end of deprivation of civil liberties. It is our contention that another Yoruba Christian presidency will usher in another opportunity for Christian hegemony and the marginalisation, stigmatisation, repression and persecution of Yoruba Muslims.

“MURIC rejects this grand design to keep Muslims in Yorubaland in perpetual bondage. There are many Yoruba Muslims who are eminently qualified for the post of president. We also believe that the interest of the Yoruba people will be best served if they will channel their grievances towards ensuring that a Yoruba man emerges president instead of pursuing a separatist agenda that may lead them nowhere.

“We advise ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to relax his grip on the Nigerian jugular vein. He should stop pushing Yoruba Muslims to the background. Christians are not the only human beings in Yorubaland.

“The political party does not matter to us. What is important is that the next Yoruba presidential ticket must go to a Yoruba Muslim in the name of fairness, justice and equity.”

The Ogun State Judicial Panel of Investigation on Police Brutality, Human Rights Violations, and Extra-Judicial Killings has concluded its sitting six months after it held its inaugural session.

A total of 58 petitions out of the over 100 complaints received were treated in the course of the panel’s sittings at the Magistrate Court 1 in the Isabo area of Abeokuta, the state capital.

The Chairman of the panel, Justice Solomon Olugbemi, announced the completion of the committee’s sitting while briefing reporters in Abeokuta at the end of the six-month period.

“The panel received a total of 106 petitions, out of which 58 were treated and the remaining 48 were either withdrawn, rejected, or abandoned wholly or halfway by the petitioners,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by the media officer of the panel, Femi Osipitan.

Justice Olugbemi explained that some of the petitions were rejected because they were not in line with the terms of reference that the panel was given by the state government.

He, however, assured all petitioners and respondents of justice without fear or favour, saying the panel’s report was ready for submission to the state government.

The chairman of the panel stated that after submission, it would be left for the government to implement the report or not.

“Although the panel encountered some logistics challenges, it was able to surmount them,” he said of some of the hurdles faced by the panel.

The state governor, Dapo Abiodun, inaugurated the members of the panel on October 19, 2020, and gave them six months to receive and investigate petitions from members of the public whose human rights have been violated and abused by security personnel within the state.

He also asked the panel to make appropriate recommendations to the state government.

The Lagos State Government has said it will roll out 500 Last-Mile Buses to serve as an alternative to commercial motorcycles popularly called Okada to access inner streets.

The rollout will continue until the state meets the target of 5,000 such buses.

The Federal Government has reintroduced COVID-19 restrictions across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This new directive is to take effect by midnight of Tuesday, a member of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Dr Mukhtar Mohammed, declared.

Mohammed, who is the Head of Technical Secretariat of the PSC, made the announcement while briefing reporters on Monday in Abuja.

With the restrictions imposed, mass gatherings in public spaces have been restricted to 50 people at any given time.

Access to government institutions would also be denied to anyone not wearing a face mask while government meetings and travels have been limited to the virtual platform.

According to Mohammed, the government has directed that bars and nightclubs should remain closed and the nationwide curfew will be in force until further notice.

He added that only essential international travels would be encouraged, and all existing protocols must be strictly adhered to.

The PSC member, however, stated that there was no limitation to intra-state travel.

ODUDUWA NEWS has gathered that Wednesday and Thursday have been declared public holidays by the Federal Government to mark the 2021 Eid-ul-Fitr celebration.

The disclosure was made known today by the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on behalf of the Federal Government.

A statement by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Dr. Shuaib Belgore, quoted Aregbesola as congratulating the Muslim faithful on the occasion.

He also called “all Nigerians, at home and abroad to use the period of this year’s Eidul-Fitr celebration to pray for peace, stability and economic transformation in the land”.

Aregbesola, who believes that development cannot thrive in a rancorous atmosphere, urged all “Nigerians to be law-abiding and embrace the spirit of love, self-discipline, kindness, and tolerance, as taught by the Holy Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him)”.

The minister also called on all security agencies in the country to “be more courageous and patriotic to surmount the ongoing battle against resurging insecurity and activities of criminal elements in Nigeria”.

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and the holiday begins according to the sighting of the new moon.

Lagos Police Commissioner, Hakeem Odumosu has said security agencies in the state were on top of threats by Oodua Republic and the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) agitators to disrupt law and order, and attack soft targets, respectively.

He stated this at a stakeholders’ forum on security chaired by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the state secretariat, Alausa and

Odumosu said: “The command has taken notice of agitators for Oodua Republic by some Yoruba separatist groups and the threats to disrupt law and order in the state. Twenty four of these groups have been identified and being closely monitored. “Similarly, the threat of IPOB to attack soft targets in Lagos is equally being put on the radar of the command intelligence gathering and other security services in the state. Strategies are being put in place to neutralise their activities.

“The command is using this medium to solicit for the support of all and sundry to be vigilant at all times and report any suspicious person or movement to security agencies. Let us adopt the slogan of “when you see something, say something.”

The Nation reports that increased attacks on police, other security facilities in the southeast and south-south regions of the country with IPOB being major suspects. Also, two attempted attacks on two police divisions in Lagos were foiled last month and security beefed up across the state to forestall further attempts.

Giving details of security efforts, Odumosu said strategies were continuously appraised in order to keep hoodlums at bay.

He said intelligence reports available to the command revealed that criminals use uncompleted, abandoned buildings, empty lands and hotels to plan and execute their missions.

He said abandoned vehicles were also used by these elements to hide firearms, urging the government to take immediate action towards possessing such properties for better security.

Self-proclaimed Yoruba nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, has made a u-turn on comments he made in a video where he mocked the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, following the death of his son, Dare.

In the live Facebook video with his media aide, Oluyomi Koiki on Sunday, Igboho had said he refused to sympathise with Adeboye because the cleric did not support the clamour for a Yoruba nation.

Igboho also rained curses on Adeboye and other Yoruba leaders whom he said refused to support his cause, that they would continue to love their children, wives and families.

“Has Baba supported the Yoruba nation that we will now be greeting him? We don’t need to greet Adeboye. What is my own with that? We are not doing church here. This is not religion.

“Pastor Adeboye didn’t speak about the Yoruba nation. Look at the number of crowd in Baba Adeboye’s church. Is he not supposed to tell all of them to join the Yoruba nation? We don’t need to greet him.

“By the grace of God, anybody who says Yoruba will not get to the promised land, God will kill their children and wives and their entire family,” he had said.

However, following a backlash from Nigerians on social media, Igboho, in another post on Facebook late Sunday, recanted his words, saying he did not mock the man of God as he was misquoted.

Read also: Sunday Igboho mocks, curses Pastor Adeboye over son’s death in new video.

“They said I mocked Pastor Adeboye, I didn’t mock that man. He is our father. I wasn’t talking to him. I don’t know him and he does not know me,” Igboho posted.

“I am a Christian. Had it been that I am a Muslim, they would have said I’m trying to be religious intolerant (sic). I was only saying the Yoruba nation is not a religious matter.

“We accommodate Muslims, Christians and traditionalists. I didn’t insult that man. People just misquoted me by cutting that part of the video. Did I mock him? I didn’t say anything concerning him.

“I was asked a question about the death of his son, how will I mock him over his son’s death. I can’t pray that his son should die. I didn’t say anything negative about him.

“I said all elders who have the power to assist the Yoruba race but choose not to, I rained curses on them.

“God who created us knows when we will go back. Whoever mocks the dead will also die one day. We all will die. How will I mock the dead?

“I didn’t insult the deceased son. May God forgive the dead and may his soul rest in peace. May our father live long,” Igboho stated.