Afenifere, Sahara Reporters, and their defamatory comparison of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) with Sunday Igboho

By RASHEED ABUBAKAR

“Of course, the basic training Sowore lacks has always reflected in the quality of journalism Sahara Reporters churns out, making him a laughing stock among both media and non-practitioners in Nigeria and beyond. Besides, he is an unapologetic Islamophobe, every Muslim knows this except his handful of supporters.”

My attention was this morning, Tuesday, July 27, drawn to a story published by Sahara Reporters on Monday, July 26 with the headline “Igboho Is Like Prophet Muhammed Who Fled Mecca For Medina Over Persecution”, and sadly, the unfortunate statement was attributed to the National Publicity Secretary of Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Jare Ajayi.

The story as published by the blog read in part: “Afenifere also said there was nothing wrong with this intention, as it narrated, ‘We recall that Moses had to be taken away from the prying eyes of Pharaoh and his agents in Egypt. Prophet Muhammed (SAW) too had to leave his hometown, Mecca for Medina in order to escape persecution.'”

I wouldn’t blame Sahara Reporters, whose founder, Omoyele Sowore, has little to no journalism training, be it academic or on the job training. If he had, he wouldn’t have picked the story from that sensitive and controversial angle – in a bid to insult the sensibilities of Muslim faithful whose unflinching love for the Prophet of God is unshakable, clout chasing and drive traffic to his blog, even if the Yoruba group made such defamatory remark.

Of course, the basic training Sowore lacks has always reflected in the quality of journalism Sahara Reporters churns out, making him a laughing stock among both media and non-practitioners in Nigeria and beyond. Besides, he is an unapologetic Islamophobe, every Muslim knows this except his handful of supporters. Hence, it isn’t surprising that Sowore’s SR decided to pick on our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as an example, when Afenifere indeed also cited the case of Moses in the same press release.

Going by Sowore’s SR track record of deliberately and intentionally twisting stories to suit his narrow narrative, selfish and devilish agenda, one needs to be sure if Afenifere actually made such blasphemous comparison in the first instance. I decided to search for the press release and I found that the Yoruba group actually made the defamatory remark. Interestingly, many mainstream media including Punch Newspapers, Vanguard News, The Sun, and a couple of others, featured the excerpt in the body of their stories today (Tuesday) related to the trial of Sunday Igboho, but didn’t give the defamatory comparison prominence in their respective headlines as divisively done by SR.

Although, Sowore’s SR might have deleted the story from its website, it is socially, morally and ethically wrong and must be condemned by all, irrespective of religious affiliation. This is another justification that this beautiful profession of journalism shouldn’t be in the hands of quacks, who have disregard for ethical conduct. I still find it difficult to understand that some people still rely on the news gotten from a propagandist such as Omoyele Sowore. Sad!

To address the main issue, it was a divine commandment from Allah that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) should embark on Hijrah (migration from Makkah to Medina). While leaving, he made Ali ibn Abi Talib sleep on his bed, used a dessert guide and hid himself and Abu Bakr inside a cave in the Mount of Thawr, where Allah used a spider to spun a web to protect them and confuse the Quraysh, the pagans of Makkah, who were on a mission to kill the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). They stayed there for three days and three nights.

But Afenifere didn’t say it in the press release that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had earlier sent a first batch of his companions to Abyssinia, and then to Madina, before his eventual migration with AbuBakr to Medina, by Allah’s command. To borrow from the words of Ustadh Sanusi Lafiagi, who also reacted to the unfortunate story, “Neither did he leave his followers behind, nor fly to hide from the powers that be. Muhammad (SAW) wasn’t a coward. Sunday Igboho, like Ojukwu and his mentee, Nnamdi Kanu, fled the scene after causing trouble (leading to the death and arrest of some of his followers) to enjoy the warmth of his wife and kids (abroad). He’s a coward and rabble-rouser who has no balls!”

It is demeaning and comdemnable for Afenifere to compare the greatest man in the history of mankind, Prophet Muhammad to Sunday Igboho, who, the media do not even know whether to call him a thug or a herbalist, a secessionist-activist, or mere agitator, as seen in several of their reports . It’s an insult on the pedigree and integrity of the man sent by Allah as a blessing to A’lameen, an Arabic word for mankind, jinns and all that exists). Check Q. 21:107

Just yesterday, some youths from the 17 states in the South insisted that Sunday Igboho must face trial. The story is reported by many mainstream media today (Tuesday) with the headline, “Igboho not our freedom fighter, say youths” and they believe “that the political narratives about Igboho’s arrest and his possible extradition to Nigeria should be of concern to patriotic Nigerians.”

The man the Afenifere likened his struggle with Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is seen by the group of youth from the South (south, east, and west) as an established political thug, smuggler, and land grabber as captured in their press release. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was never accused of any of these. Can Jare Ajayi deny these qualities of the personality of Sunday Igboho, he and his group are trying to paint as their messiah?

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) wasn’t a tribal or secession fighter which Igboho stands for. He united the world irrespective of their colour, tribe, language under the banner of Islam. Igboho is a pagan whose ideology is antithetical to the creed of Islam that Prophet Muhammad preached. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) called for universal peace and justice. Igboho is calling for peace and justice for Yoruba only and that must be at all cost, even at the expense of the whole nation.

There are more than 101 reasons Afenifere and by extension, Sowore should apologise to the Muslims, beyond deleting the post on SR blog, even though it’s still available on other social media platforms. This is a strong signal of the kind of maltreatment the Yoruba Muslims would be subjected to IF peradventure they get the Oodua Nation.

Let me leave you to the golden words of David George Hogarth, an English archaeologist, author, and non-Muslim. He said, about Prophet Muhammad in his book, Mohammed and Mohammedanism, London, 1874, p. 235], “… he was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without the Pope’s pretensions, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar. Without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue, if ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by a right Divine, it was Mohammed; for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports.”

*Rasheed Abubakar is a journalist. He writes from Lagos. Email: rawshield123@gmail.com