Over 40,000 Muslims killed by terrorists, MURIC counters CAN, US senators seeking to blacklist Nigeria
*Lists “the seven lies of Nigerian Christian leaders”
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
He exposed how Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) involved itself in sponsoring members to dress as either Muslims or Fulani herdsmen to perpetrate terrorism or banditry and then scream Islamisation and Fulanisation thereafter.
For the first time after the June 29, 2022 letter by five United States of America’s senators addressed to the Secretary of State seeking that Nigeria be blacklisted on concocted allegations that only Christians are being killed by state-backed agents for the crime of professing their religion, the Muslim Rights Concern (Concern (MURIC), on Thursday August 4, 2022, finally released an 11-page all-revealing document to say the sources of the US Congressmen information could only be pathological liars from the pit of hell.
MURIC’s Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, while making this known at a press conference at his Lagos headquarters, expressed dismay that the West did not disappoint anyone for listening only to Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) leaders abd their cronies feeding them with information they acted upon because, according to him, all along their aims and objectives are looking for things that will help them collapse Nigeria.
He, however, expressed dismay that a group of people who claim to be religious leaders, CAN, in the country are the same tools helping the West achieve that evil plot against their own nation.
Speaking straightforwardly, the MURIC Director said it could not be possible that only Christians have been killed by state agents and Muslims and that Christians suffer religious intolerance in a country where over 40,000 Muslims have been killed by terrorists as against the the 4,650 deaths of members claimed by the Christian leaders.
He questioned the Christian leaders to give proofs which of the government in Nigeria is killing Christians; “Federal Government or state government?”
He said, “It gives me immense pleasure to rub minds with you on false claims emanating from Christian leaders in Nigeria that Christians are the only ones being killed in this country. They exposed their bad intention towards their Muslim neighbours when they did not stop at lying within the boarders of Nigeria but went as far as the United States of America to pour venom on their compatriots and demarket their own country in a most unpatriotic and uncharitable manner.
“Misled by the false stories, five American senators recently asked the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to re-label Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC). Earlier in 2020, the US had listed Nigeria among countries blacklisted for “violating religious freedom” under the CPC designation. Nigeria was, however, removed from the list in November 2021.
“It is noteworthy that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) rejected this delisting. It demanded that Nigeria should be relisted as one of the countries violating religious freedom. CAN continued to pursue this ignoble agenda from November 2021 by lobbying powerful US politicians until five US senators swallowed its bait, hook, line and sinker.
“As a result of this, the five US senators, namely, Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio, Mike Braun, James Inhofe and Tom Cotton addressed a letter to the US Secretary of State dated June 29, 2022 alleging that “Mere expression of one’s Christian faith has become tantamount to a death sentence in many parts of Nigeria”.
“They added that more than 4,650 Nigerian Christians were killed for their faiths in 2021, that Nigeria has for the second consecutive year been the deadliest country on earth for Christians, that the Nigerian government is failing to protect the religious freedom and safety of its Christian citizens and that Nigerian government directly participated in the persecution of Christians through blasphemy laws.
“We are asking where this statistics came from. We are asking who counted the 4,650 dead bodies, where, when and how? While it is true that Nigeria has had serious security challenges in the past two years (2021 and 2022), it has been tough for all citizens. Muslims, Christians and animists have faced daunting security challenges but it is the Muslims in the North who have been killed the most and kidnapped in their hundreds.
“To claim that the Nigerian Government is failing to protect the religious freedom of its Christian citizens is a shameless attempt to upturn the facts of history. Millions of Muslims live under duress, intimidation and harassment in Southern Nigeria where Christian governors and government officials openly dehumanize Muslims and deprive them of their Allah-given fundamental human rights.
“Female Muslim students are locked out of schools merely for manifesting their Islamic faith by using hijab. Eminently qualified Muslims are denied employment unless they converted to Christianity. Political appointments are anathema for Muslims in Southern Nigeria under Christian governors.
“It must be noted that only one state has a Muslim governor out of the seventeen states in Southern Nigeria and Muslims live under religious apartheid in all the sixteen states controlled by Christians. So which government are the US senators referring to as violators of religious freedom? We assume that a critical, holistic and comprehensive assessment will be objective here. Selective appraisal will do justice and fairness no good.
“Those who speak of blasphemy laws also need to contextualise their assertion. Which blasphemy law and which government? Federal or state? Just like in the US, Nigerian states have their own legal peculiarities based on the heterogeneity of our polity. It will be unfair and even naïve of the US senators to judge the Federal Government of Nigeria by the actions or legislations of any of its states. Yet Christian leaders who take such reports to US politicians know the truth of the matter. They are just being deliberately malicious by not putting information in its proper perspective.
“MURIC frowns at the lopsided composition of Nigerians invited to the 2nd Annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington DC on June 28-30, 2022. Information available to us reveals that only the Sultan of Sokoto was officially invited and he was represented by Professor Usman Yusuf.
“On the Christian side and from Nigeria alone, at the event were the immediate past President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Samson Olasupo Adeniyi Ayokunle, Bishop Sunday Onuoha, Methodist Bishop and co-chair of Inter-faith Dialogue Forum, Ms. Anne Marie Briggs, John Joseph Hayab, Kaduna State Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria and Ms. Sarafina N’kenta. The delegation was heavily skewed in favour of Nigerian Christians.
“Expectedly, Muslim-bashing reigned supreme at the event. Nigerian Christians hammered on “terrorist Fulanis and Kanuris” who are systematically targeting and killing Nigerian Christians and armed Muslim militia who are deliberately targeting Christians and Churches with full complicity of the government.
“Yet they knew in their hearts that most of the victims of terrorist attacks are Muslims and that the number of mosques destroyed by the terrorists is higher than that of churches. Boko Haram in particular has killed, maimed and displaced more Muslims than Christians, more Muslim clerics and more Muslim traditional rulers have been killed or kidnapped than Christians.
“Most importantly, more Muslim majority states are under siege by these terrorists than Christian majority states while more Nigerian Muslims have been impoverished by insecurity than Christians. Insecurity in Nigeria has had greater impact on Muslims more than Christians but our Christian neighbours are standing history on its head,” Prof. Akintola said.
The professor of Islamic studies then went on by giving details of 1. Attacks on Muslims their mosques by terrorists, 2. Hhow Christians have been killing Muslims in Nigeria, 3. Display of impunity by Christian rulers and authorities, 4. Nigerian Christian leaders as me chants of lies, deceit and falsehood, 5. How Nigerian Muslims condemn and work with state in fight against terrorism to show they have nothing in connection with it, 6. The crowd target mentality of bandits with Muslims largely affected and 7. Data of killing of Muslims by terrorists.
Prof. Ishaq Akintola gave all the details with corresponding evidences in terms credible sources and dates, adding that MURIC does not fabricate stories and that it became imperative to provide data of Muslims killed by terrorists and many lies of Christian leaders in Nigeria because widely publicised claims that only Christians were killed or affected by the terrorism experienced in the country.
He exposed how Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) involved itself in sponsoring members to dress as either Muslims or Fulani herdsmen to perpetrate terrorism or banditry and then scream Islamisation and Fulanisation thereafter.
Data
“We challenge the data where the US senators claimed that 4,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria as at 2021 while ignoring more than 40,000 Muslims who had been killed at the same period. Christian leaders are simply capitalising on the enormity of the security challenge facing Nigeria.
“But the fact remains that 90% of the victims of Boko Haram and ISWAP are Muslims and the operations of these terrorist groups are mainly restricted to the North where Muslims are the majority. Therefore, Muslims constitute majority of the victims of violence in Nigeria. No data can dispute that even if it is from a satellite operating on Jupiter.”
He gave reason why killing of Christians appear more pronounced as due to difference in burial culture.
“Nigerian Christians display bodies of their victims and may even delay their burial for days, if not months while Muslims bury their victims almost immediately without any fuss. It is photo trick and camera magic that egg on emotions.
“According to the AlJazira network news, we can confirm that more than 20,000 people have been killed in the Boko Haram insurgency that began in 2009, which has also forced some two million to flee their homes (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/5/2/nigeria-mosque-attack-death-toll-rises-to-86). Relief workers who visit camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) can confirm that 95% of IDPs are Muslims.
“1,854 Muslims were killed in Plateau State between 1994 and 2011 (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/12/a-cycle-of-reprisals-turns-jos-into-killing-field/; Amnesty International, “More than 1,500 Killed in Armed Conflict in North-Eastern Nigeria in Early 2014,” March 2014, https://www.amnesty.org.uk/sites/default/files/nigeria__more_than_1500_killed_in_armed_conflict_0.pdf. 9)
“Boko Haram killed thirty seven thousand, five hundred (37,500) persons from 2015 to 2018. Of this figure, thirty two thousand (32,000) were Muslims while five thousand, five hundred (5,500) were Christians. This means that 85% of those killed were Muslims. Mosques have been bombed or burned. Imams, Shaykhs and emirs have been abducted and killed. But CAN still wants to deceive the world by claiming that it is Christians alone who are being killed in Nigeria. CAN has lost all credibility.
“Boko Haram killed the Emir of Gwoza, Alhaji Idrissa Timta on 30th May, 2014 (https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/161743-boko-haram-killed-emir-gwoza-borno-government.html; https://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/05/boko-haram-attacks-three-emirs-kills-one/). Boko Haram terrorists claimed responsibility for the killing of the popular Shaykh Muhammad Auwal Adam ‘Albani’ of Zaria, head of the Salafists along with his wife and 18-year-old son on 3rd February, 2014 (https://www.blueprint.ng/how-we-killed-albani-suspects/; Salisu Bala, “Salafi Targets for ‘Boko Haram’: The Murder of Shaykh Muhammad Auwal Adam ‘Albani’ Zaria,” Annual Review of Islam in Africa 12/1 (2013–2014) pages 31–38).
“In 2013, Boko Haram attempted to kill both Emir Ado Bayero and Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/01/4-killed-as-gunmen-attack-emir-of-kano/; See also Will Ross, “Nigeria: Kano Reels after Emir Attack,” BBC News, February 7, 2013). The same Boko Haram insurgents made an attempt on the life of the Shehu of Borno on 13th July, 2013 (http://www.thisdaylive.com/ articles/shehu-of-borno-dep-gov-escape-death-in-suicide-bomb-blast/119979/57). Boko Haram also killed a notable Islamic cleric, Shaykh Adamu Misira along with scores of his followers at Nafada, Gombe State, on 5th November, 2014 (“Boko Haram Kills Scores, Islamic Cleric in Nafada,” The Sun, November 5, 2014, http://sunnewsonline.com/new/bokoharam-kills-scores-islamic-cleric-in-nafada/).
“Is any of the above prominent personalities a Christian? Terrorists are killing emirs, Shaykhs and Islamic clerics. But CAN is telling the world that terrorists are killing Christians only. Terrorists are destroying mosques and killing the Muslim worshippers inside in their hundreds. Yet Nigerian Christian leaders say only churches are being attacked. It is absolutely absurd and incomprehensible.
“We urge Nigerian Christians to disregard CAN’s false allegation and incitement. It has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that CAN is a lying cartel. If CAN has lied more than once, it can lie again. Interestingly there is evidence that CAN has lied seven times and here is the list of CAN’s can of worms: (1) Osun fake Boko Haram attack orchestrated by CAN chairman in Ola Oluwa Local Government, Osun State; (2) Plateau CAN chapter tried to use women demonstrating half naked to deceive soldiers searching for the body of General Alkali; (3) three Christians from Southern Kaduna disguised as Fulani herdsmen to cause mayhem; (4) CAN said the terrorist who tried to bomb COCIN church was a Muslim but the terrorist turned out to be a Christian and member of the church; (5) Muslim kids are kidnapped to Christian territories for secret conversion; (6) CAN said bishops who attended the unveiling of Shettima are fake but it was later proved that they were real and (7) their claim that it is only Christians that bandits are kidnapping and terrorists are killing is the seventh lie. CAN has lied seven times!”
Prof. Akintola therefore wondered how some American Senators and the West in general would allow themselves to be misled by the one sided stories from Christians and those are what they hold in the hands to seek the blacklist of Nigeria over fictitious claims unverifiable.
“Yet the most barbaric was the killing of an 8-month pregnant woman, Harirah Jubril, a Muslim Fulani woman from Adamawa state who was brutally gunned down with her four hijab-wearing female children by the Igbo separatist armed group, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) while waiting for a bus in Isulo Orumba North Local Government Area, Anambra State (https://saharareporters.com/2022/05/25/pregnant-woman-harira-four-children-murdered-gunmen-buried-anambra).”
He said whereas Muslims have proofs for all the things they have said happened, none of the Christian leaders the West listen to has a single proof yet they are believed.
Impunity
“Nothing encourages lawlessness, recklessness and criminality like impunity. Christian governors and Christian authorities have manifested impunity in Nigeria with reckless abandon. A few examples will suffice:
“1. Contrary to Section 10 of the Nigerian Constitution, a Governor from the South South, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, declared his state a Christian state and demolished mosques (https://punchng.com/rivers-is-a-christian-state-wike-insists/; https://www.thecable.ng/video-wike-lied-he-demolished-my-mosque-says-asari).
“2. Joshua Dariye as governor of Plateau State declared in January 2002 that he was determined to make the state the centre and pillar of Christianity in Nigeria, contrary to extant laws (https://allafrica.com/stories/200201210086.html).
“3. Female Muslim students are robbed of their religious identity as they are forced to wear Christian school uniforms after being disallowed from wearing hijab in schools in Southern Nigeria, including the South West where Muslims are a majority ruled by an elitist Christian minority (https://guardian.ng/features/nigerian-schools-in-the-throes-of-hijab-crisis/; https://saharareporters.com/2022/02/05/we-will-not-allow-hijab-mission-schools-kwara-christian-association-insists; https://dailypost.ng/2018/11/15/breaking-hijab-wearing-female-students-bar-ui-school-photos/https://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/appeal-court-lifts-ban-hijab-lagos-public-schools/; https://guardian.ng/news/supreme-court-approves-wearing-of-hijab-in-lagos-schools/).”
He concluded his address with a noted that despite all of the lies and impunity of those Christian leaders, they still exist Christians who are doing well, they live Muslims and Muslims love them and therefore urges those one not to believe the lies of the leaders who go around the Western societies to demarket their own country for their own pecuniary reason and interest of their foreign soonsors.
“There is no iota of doubt that there are good Christians in Nigeria. We call on the good ones to stop this charade by their leaders. We can live together in love and harmony. We love our Christian neighbours. We as Muslims are committed to peaceful coexistence but on the basis of equality and fairness, without intimidation or harassment and definitely without blackmail. We cherish human dignity and we have respect for human life. Our advice to the new president of CAN is to tow the path of truth and patriotism for the sake of the survival of our dear country, Nigeria.”
Details of MURIC Press Conference Address on “False Claims by Christian Leaders” later…
