Muslim Rights Concern of Nigeria (MURIC)
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In the Name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful

Press Release: MURIC DEMANDS SEPARATION BETWEEN SULTANATEAND LEADERSHIP OF NSCIA 1st November 2006

The attention of The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has been drawn to moves by Muslims in Sokoto to select the next Sultan as widely reported in the newspapers of Tuesday 31st October 2006. While we affirm that we have no objection to any candidate emerging as the next Sultan, we warn that the exercise is too hasty coming barely 48 hours after the demise of Sultan Muhammadu Maccido.

MURIC wishes to dissociate itself from moves to appoint the next Sultan of Sokoto within such a short time. Our objection is based on the need to resolve fundamental issues on ground before installing another Sultan. Such hurried installation can only be effective if the next Sultan will not combine the office of the Sultanate with that of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).

MURIC asserts that the combination of these two offices and designations is lopsided, myopic, archaic, undemocratic and unIslamic. Like all traditional kingdoms, the feudalistic institution of the Sultanate must not be allowed to taint the hallowed leadership of the NSCIA. The process of choosing a new Sultan which involves only thirteen kingmakers from Sokoto and leaves out the rest of the Muslims whether in Kano, Borno, Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu or Benin makes the combination of the offices of the Sultanate with that of the leadership of the NSCIA ridiculous, ineffective and therefore unacceptable.

As a new Sultan is about to be imposed on the rest of the Muslims in Nigeria, MURIC alerts the Sultanate to this anomaly. We call attention to the protests and opposition to this system which began more than twelve years ago and for which the late Sultan Maccido promised reform but never did. We remind the Sultanate that Muslims all over the country had been agitating for change and for a review of the constitution of the NSCIA for over twelve years.

MURIC is particularly irked at the provisions of Section 7 (i) & (ii) of the NSCIA constitution which stipulates that the Sultan of Sokoto and the Emir of Borno shall be made the President-General and Vice-President General of the NSCIA. This provisions are discriminative, selective, undemocratic and myopic. The NSCIA document must be cast into the dustbin of history. It is a symbol of tyranny, injustice, oppression and persecution.

We call attention to the violation of the Shari'ah in this obnoxious practice. Qur'an 3:159 and 42:38 stipulate that leadership among Muslims can only be made after due consultation (wa shawirhum fil-amr). The selection of three candidates for the vacant stool of the Sultan by thirteen kingmakers from Sokoto without recourse to the rest of Nigerian Muslims is, to say the least, dictatorial, oppressive, feudalistic and unacceptable.

A much more fundamental dimension is the fact that the Sultan is a traditional ruler who must dance to the tune of the state governor. He is hired and can be fired. It happened to Sultan Dasuki. What happened to Dasuki was a disgrace for all Nigerian Muslims. The leader of all Muslims was deposed and nobody could do anything about it. No state governor can do that to the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Even the Federal Government has no power to remove him! 
MURIC therefore demands freedom for Nigerian Muslims. Let my people go! The reason why the leader of the Muslims cannot speak out on sensitive national issues is that he is under pressure by the governor of Sokoto State. He cannot criticize the government otherwise he will be removed. We demand liberty for Nigerian Muslims. Set the Muslims free.

MURIC therefore demands:

  1. That the much-respected NSCIA Secretary General, Dr. Abdul Lateef Adegbite sets the machinery in motion for the immediate review of the NSCIA constitution;
  2. that the next Sultan must not parade himself as the President-General of the NSCIA
  3. that the Sokoto Sultanate separates the Sultanate from the NSCIA;
  4. that the Federal Government stops recognizing the Sultan of Sokoto as the head of all Nigerian Muslims;
  5. that Dr. Adegbite as Secretary-General convenes a Conference of All Nigerian Muslims (CANM) within the next thirty days where a suitable candidate will emerge as the President-General of the NSCIA;
  6. that no traditional ruler must henceforth be chosen as head of the NSCIA either at the centre or at state and local branches and
  7. that the Federal Government steers clear of this attempt to sanitize the NSCIA.

MURIC wishes to make it abundantly clear that it is not opposed to the emergence of qualified candidates from Sokoto, Borno or anywhere in the North so long as such a candidate or candidates are not traditional rulers. We are aware of the existence of seasoned Islamic scholars and highly qualified individuals among Northern academia.

In fact it will be a brilliant idea if Maccido is succeded in the NSCIA leadership by any of the articulate and pious professors of Islamic studies in Northern Universities. Nigerian Muslims may subsequently select another candidate from Owerri or Ibadan. That will be true practice of the teachings of Islam: participatory leadership, equal opportunity, justice and fairness.

Finally, MURIC calls on Nigerian Muslims to stay mobilized, to be ready to free themselves from the deadly grips of uninformed guidance, passive leadership and feudal totalitarianism. 

 

Dr. Is-haq Akintola
DIRECTOR
 
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