MURIC cautions against religious affiliation to militia groups

A group Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has urged the Federal Government to thoroughly investigate the arrest of nine fully armed militia men in Benue.

The Director, MURIC, Ishaq Akintola said those found culpable should be dealt with according to the laws of the land. There should be no sacred cows.He however noted that most Nigerians get it wrong when they fail to separate criminals from their religion or ethnic background.

“Those who connect Fulani herdsmen to Islam and whip up anti-Muslim sentiment have chosen a very dangerous angle. Both history and faith have bound Fulanis and Nigerian Muslims together. Reading between the lines, anti-Fulani propaganda and hostile acts against the Fulani cannot be divorced from attacks on Muslims. By the same token, genocide aimed at the Fulani is indubitably mass killing of Muslims,” he said.He therefore enjoined Nigerians to eschew tribal compartmentalization and religious profiling.

“We are all from Adam (peace be upon him) and Adam came from ordinary sand. It is the children of the same father who are attacking themselves when Christians and Muslims lock horns. Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham, peace be upon him) would be most unhappy today if he were to witness how his children are killing each other. Most of us did not choose the religion we follow today. Neither did we choose our tribe by ourselves. We were born into them. We could have been born in China or Russia. Nigerians should ponder over this and give peace a chance,”

Meanwhile, MURIC has also commended the Borno State governor for giving education the highest allocation in the 2018 budget, describing it as timely, visionary and realistic.

Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, presented a budget of N170 billion for the 2018 fiscal year on Thursday 28th December, 2018. Shettima gave highest priority to education by allocating N26 billion to the sector.

He said: “For a state that has suffered the heaviest casualty of the Boko Haram insurgency, Borno State needs speedy recovery and giving adequate attention to education is of paramount importance to the realization of this objective.

“Nonetheless, MURIC reminds all stakeholders within and outside the country of the humongous challenges facing the state. No weapon fashioned against religious extremism can be as effective as education. Although Nigeria has defeated Boko Haram militarily, the ideological wing of the deadly group is still very much alive and active. It is only a purposeful pursuit of educational projects that can eventually eliminate the misleading ideology of Boko Haram,” he said.