An Islamic rights advocacy group – Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) – has warned Vice President Yemi Osinbajo over his speculated presidential ambition.
The MURIC told Osinbajo – an ordained pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) – that it is the turn of Muslims in the South-west, not Christians, to rule Nigeria.
MURIC’s Director, Ishaq Akintola, declared via a statement:
“Three Yoruba Christians (Obasanjo, Shonekan and Osinbajo himself) have occupied the presidency whereas no single Yoruba Muslim has been either military head of state, president or vice president of Nigeria.
“This factor has given Yoruba Christians both political and economic edges and subjected Yoruba Muslims to political marginalisation, social segregation and gross economic disadvantage leading to abject penury among Muslims in the sub-region.
“Muslims in the South-West will no longer remain onlookers in matters affecting our welfare and our collective destiny. Any Yoruba Christian or Muslim candidate seeking office will have to consult the Muslim community. Nobody will be allowed to take Muslims for a ride and get elected on a platter of gold.
“All other things being equal, we would not have worried at all and we would not have brought the religious factor to the fore in Nigeria’s march towards 2023. But the brazen effrontery and undisguised persecution of Yoruba Muslims coupled with the criminal silence from those that matter among Christian leaders, civil society and Yoruba socio-cultural groups have made our stand necessary.
“Our stand is informed by an urgent need to liberate Yoruba Muslims from the shackles of religious persecution