MURIC: REBUTTAL OF ALHAJI PROFESSOR ISHAQ AKINTOLA’S DISTORTIONS OF THE NIGERIAN REALITY

Islamic Group MURIC demands Establishment of Sharia Courts in South-West

Alhaji Professor Ishaq Akintola:
“One: Nigerians enjoy a total of eight (8) public holidays in a year. These are Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Id al-Kabir, Id al-Fitr and Maulud an-Nabiyy. Five (5) of the eight holidays belong to Christians (Christmas Day, Boxing Day, 1st January, i.e, New Year Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday). Only three (3) holidays belong to Muslims, viz, Id al-Kabir, Id al-Fitr and Maulud an-Nabiyy.
”Restructuring should give Muslims 1st Muharram. This will bring the total number of Muslim holidays to four while Christian holidays remain five.”

Africastallestman:
Alhaji, Boxing Day is not a Christian holiday. Its origin is unclear. There is even a suggestion that it is meant for boxing matches. If it pleases you, it can be renamed Boko Haram or Fulani Herdsmen Day to honor their mass slaughter of people.

This is the entry from USA online. “According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the custom arose because servants, who would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, were allowed to visit their families the next day and employers would give them boxes to take home containing gifts, bonuses and, sometimes, leftover food. The tradition is mentioned in an entry in Samuel Pepys’ diaries from 1663.”
https://english.stackexchange. com/questions/216899/what-is-the-origin-of-boxing-
day https://www.usatoday.co m/story/news/2015/12/24/boxi ng-day-what-is-
it/77877344/.

Africastallestman guesses that most servants in Nigeria are Christians! Alhaji Akintola forgot to mention that most US States do not observe Boxing Day yet the US claims to be the most Christian nation in the world. The British introduced Boxing Day in Nigeria and it has nothing to do with Christianity.

In 2017, there were 3 Christian holidays in Nigeria: April 14 (Good Friday), April 17 (Easter), and December 25 (Christmas Day). Including December 26 and January 1, which Alhaji Akintola claims are Christian holidays, give Christians a total of five days.
The Muslims have June 25 (Id-el-Fitri Sallah), June 26 (Sallah), June 27 (Sallah),
September 1 (Id el Kabir), and September 4 (Id el Kabir) as public holidays, a total of five days.
http://www.officeholidays.co m/countries/nigeria/index.php.

New year celebration predates Christianity. But our “erudite” professor of holidays would want us to believe that it is a Christian holiday.
http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/new- years.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27sDay.

Since Saudi Arabian discarded the archaic Islamic calendar in favor of the Gregorian calendar, is New Year’s Day now an Islamic holiday?
http://www.independent.co.uk
/news/world/middle- east/saudi-arabia-calendar- gregorian-switches-to-pay- workers-less-save-money- a7342331.html.
Alhaji professor, do some research before feeding the public with falsehoods.

Alhaji Professor Ishaq Akintola:
”Two: Christian marriages contracted inside churches or registries are held sacrosanct everywhere in Nigeria whereas Muslim marriages (nikah) are not recognized for any official purpose. Muslim couples find themselves in a cul de sac each time they presented their Islamic marriage certificates for official purposes. It is paradoxical that in a democracy, one marriage conducted by a religious group is acceptable while the other is not. What kind of constitution is Nigeria using?
Islamic marriages should be recognized in all official circles where Christian marriages are recognized. The Nigerian Marriage Act (1990) should therefore be revisited.”

Africastallestman:
You want Nigeria to recognize pedophiles? If the Sharia law can be amended to outlaw marriages to children who are not recognized as adults under Nigerian law, Muslim marriages (nikah) will be recognized.

Assuming that Nigeria recognizes nikah. An eighty- year-old Muslim man married to an eleven-year-old Muslim child arrives at JFK Airport in New York with a child as his wife. He will be promptly arrested and sent to Riker’s Island jail. Alhaji, do you want that to happen to your members? Beware of what you are asking for.

Alhaji Professor Ishaq Akintola:
”Three: Nigeria has a two-day weekend, viz, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a half day during the colonial era and Sunday was the only full day at the weekend. However, Saturday was made a full day to favour the Seventh Day
Adventists, a Christian denomination during the regime of General Yakubu Gowon, a Christian military ruler. It is very clear, therefore, that the two weekend days recognized in Nigeria belong to Christians while Muslims have none since Friday, the Muslim day of worship, remains a working day.
It is pertinent to note that Friday was a work-free day until the British brought Christianity and stopped Muslims from enjoying their Allah-given fundamental human right. The relief we are seeking through restructuring is that Friday should be declared free to assume parity with the Christians’ Sunday.
While we are not seeking anarchy, we are confident that the Federal Government (FG) has all the paraphernalia of administration to work out the modalities.”

Africastallestman:
You state, “While we are not seeking anarchy, we are confident that the Federal Government (FG) has all the paraphernalia of administration to work out the modalities.” Yes the President Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari can launch “Operation Stay Home Friday,” where the Muslim Hausa-Fulani Army, Navy, Air Force, and Police will close down Nigeria on Fridays. With 200 armored vehicles from Islamic Jordan, their task will be easier.

Alhaji, there you go again, “However, Saturday was made a full day to favour the Seventh Day Adventists, a Christian denomination during the regime of General Yakubu Gowon, a Christian military ruler.” How many Seventh Day Adventists are in Nigeria? Gowon may have been Christian but his Supreme Military Council was Hausa-Fulani. Gowon served at the mercy of the Hausa-Fulanis.

Nigeria had so much money in the 1970’s that Gowon did not know what to do with it.
Meanwhile, Olabisi Ajala was busy traveling the world and Army Officers and Businessmen spent their weekends in London with their girlfriends, mostly female university students.
The half Saturday workday became an encumbrance, which was truncated by Gowon at the urging of the Hausa-Fulani Army.
Muslims pushed for this holiday. They took off for London on Friday evening after Yawm al- Jum’ah prayers, some with as many as four mainly Christian girlfriends per person. The time difference meant that they arrived in London in time for bacchanalian nights of alcohol, sex, and….
https://africastallestman.com/2 016/08/23/if-money-did-not- solve-nigerias-problems- prayers-will-not-solve-them- either/

Alhaji Professor Ishaq Akintola:
”Four: Immigration officials engage in regular stereotyping of Muslims who apply for international passports. They intimidate Muslims particularly at the point of taking pictures. Muslim males are ordered to remove their caps; Imams are coerced into removing their turbans; bearded Muslims are compelled to shave or trim their beards; hijab-wearing Muslim women are made to remove their hijabs or ordered to draw their hijab backwards to reveal their ears. The same scenario plays itself out in driving licence, national identity card offices and during registration for elections.
In the process, thousands of Muslims have been denied international passports, driving licences and national identity cards while millions have been disenfranchised during elections. The authorities must find a way of stopping the persecution and profiling of Muslims.”

Africastallestman:
This is a terrorism issue. It is human nature to stereotype. In America, blacks are stereotyped as drug pushers and users despite statistics showing that whites use more drugs.

Not a single Christian has been identified as a suicide bomber in Nigeria. Caps, turbans, and hijabs are disguises that may mask your identity. In these days of terror, it is important that every traveler be properly identified. Christian traditional rulers remove their caps for picture taking. Is the turban higher than a royal cap? The same applies to persons wearing eyeglasses and scarf- wearing Christian women. They take them off for passport pictures.

If you cannot be properly identified, you can forget about acquiring a passport, as most countries do not accept disguised pictures. The same applies to driver’s licenses, national identity cards, and permanent voters card.

Alhaji, the system as presently organized is fraught with fraud and you want to introduce more fraud.

Alhaji Professor Ishaq Akintola:
”Five: Uniformed groups in Nigeria, including the army, police, uniformed voluntary groups, nurses, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), students of primary and secondary schools, etc., use
uniforms designed by the Christian colonialists. These uniforms should have been reviewed after independence because they only suit the Christians. Some of them constitute breaches to Islamic dress code and offend the sensibility of Muslims who are compelled to wear the uniforms regardless of their inner feeling of resentment.
”In view of the fact that Western countries like Britain, Canada and the United States have designed uniforms with hijab for their female Muslim police, soldiers, students, etc., Nigeria’s restructuring authorities should borrow a leaf from those countries.”

Africastallestman:
The U.K. and Canadian Police allow hijabs but not the US. Indonesia, a Muslim country does not allow the hijab but you want the uniformed forces in secular Nigeria to wear hijabs.
Alhaji professor, your statement that, “Uniformed groups in Nigeria, including the army, police, uniformed voluntary groups, nurses, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), students of primary and secondary schools, etc., use uniforms designed by the Christian colonialists,” is your most outlandish statement.
This is a picture (see below) of Saudi Army officers wearing flowing robes, khaffiyehs, and sandals. Is Mecca in Katsina State or Saudi Arabia? With your prescribed uniforms, it will be easy to get uniformed Nigerian soldiers entangled in thorns making them easy prey for Boko Haram terrorists.

Boko Haram wears western style army camouflages and not Islamic uniforms.
Hypocrites who disavow Western education but enjoy the products of Western education.

Alhaji Professor Ishaq Akintola:
”Six: There is no single Shari’ah court in South Western Nigeria where Muslims constitute the majority. This is contrary to what obtained in Yorubaland before the advent of the British. There were Shariah courts in Ede, Iwo, Ikirun, Ibadan, etc. Yoruba Muslims are now compelled to take their civil matters like inheritance, marriage, etc. to Christo-Western courts. This is preposterous and unacceptable.
We demand the establishment of Shariah courts in all South Western states including Edo State where there is a significant percentage of Muslims.”

Africastallestman:
The Muslims are not the majority in the South West or in Nigeria. That’s why Muslims do not want an accurate census. Nigeria is a secular state where Sharia and Islam are mentioned in the Constitution but not Canon Law or Christianity. The cosmopolitan Yorubas except a few diehard religionists such as you have discarded Sharia law.

Civil Law is not Christian Law. Although it may have had some Christian sympathies initially, it has taken a life of its own.
Following your argument, the Nigerian National Assembly makes “Christian” laws.
Sharia law is not public law in India, where there are 172 million Muslims. Sharia law is practiced in India privately. It should be so in Nigeria as there are no Canon law courts in Nigeria. No religion is mentioned in the Singaporean Constitution, a multi-religious society.

Christians are denied permits to build churches in the North. Churches are routinely razed to the ground. In the South, some Christian governors have turned government houses into mosques.
Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State pays Christians to convert to Islam. A Northern governor promoting the conversion of Islamists to Christianity would be publicly beheaded.

Alhaji Professor Ishaq Akintola:
”We call the attention of FG and the restructuring committee of the APC to the above six reliefs. Muslims are in bondage in this country and we believe that restructuring should emancipate people in captivity. APC promised change. This change can only be meaningful to us if it breaks the shackles around our necks. We have begged enough for the restoration of our Allah-given and fundamental human rights. We are tired of begging.
Restructuring is about reapportioning the dividends of democracy such that it goes round and it is not restricted to one section.
”Colonial administration was grossly unfair to Muslims.
Nigeria was Christianised by Britain and Muslims bore the brunt. We suffered forceful conversion, denial of rightful employment and even worse forms of persecution. But what is most disappointing is the policy of exclusion adopted by post-independence governments.
”On a final note, we demand full integration and full recognition as bona fide citizens of Nigeria, not second or third class citizens. We are the aggrieved party. The British most brutally and most unjustly took all we had from us, giving us nothing in return and offering no relief. It has continued to give us a feeling of rejection, marginalization, denial of the dividends of democracy and lack of a sense of belonging. The time for redress is now and our six- point relief is here for all to digest.”

Africastallestman:
I agree with you on restructuring. The Constitution should be restructured to include Jesus Christ, Bible, and Canon Law. Your APC (Alliance for Progressive Change) has started the restructuring. The Nigerian Armed Forces is now the Northern Muslim Hausa- Fulani Armed Forces. All significant parastatals, public corporations, and agencies have been Islamized and fulanized.

Since Nigeria is in the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation), Nigeria should also join the OCC (Organization of Christian Cooperation).
The British so hated the Muslims that they handed over Nigeria at independence to the largely illiterate Northern Fulani Muslims.

Because of the “forceful British conversion” of Muslims to Christians, which is unsubstantiated, Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari is forcefully converting Christians to Islam and Islamizing and Fulanizing all government agencies.

To give every Nigerian, a sense of belonging, Nigerian waterways, air space, roads, telephone lines, security services, public toilets, hotels, etc., etc. must be demarcated into Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Traditional Religious, etc. lines. Maybe, the country should be restructured along religious lines.

You conveniently forgot to add that Muslims pray five times a day, twice while in the office. These are the Muslim prayer times:
Fajr (pre-dawn): This prayer starts off the day with the remembrance of God; it is performed before sunrise.
Dhuhr (noon): After the day’s work has begun, one breaks shortly after noon to again remember God and seek His guidance.
‘Asr (afternoon): In the late afternoon, people are usually busy wrapping up the day’s work, getting kids home from school, etc. It is an important time to take a few minutes to remember God and the greater meaning of our lives.
Maghrib (sunset): Just after the sun goes down, Muslims remember God again as the day begins to come to a close.
‘Isha (evening): Before retiring for the night, Muslims again take time to remember God’s presence, guidance, mercy, and forgiveness.
http://www.answers.com/Q/At_what_times_do_Muslims_pray_during_the_day.
THAT ADDS UP TO ANOTHER FIVE DAYS OF MUSLIM HOLIDAYS FOR EMPLOYED MUSLIMS!

Muslims in the U.K., Canada, and America do not take time off during work hours to pray. Try it and get fired. Members of Nigerian security forces take off their boots to pray five times a day. A praying shoeless soldier is easy prey for terrorists.

For religious equity as you propose, Nigerian Muslims must not take time off to pray whilst in the office. The mosques (prayer areas) in government offices should be closed and diverted to other uses. If not, the government must build churches (prayer areas) and give Christians time off to pray the rosary or speak in tongues. Temples will be built for Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, etc. in government offices.

Alhaji Professor Ishaq Akintola, you are one of the problems of Nigeria. Your thinking needs to be restructured. As Buhari restructures religion, he should also restructure employment,
education, commerce, oil blocks, import licenses, etc. to give Christians and other denominations including Shias more equitable representation. Nigeria is not just a Sunni Muslim- Christian nation. What of holidays for the Shias, Bahais, Hindus, Okija Worhippers, Sango Worshippers, River Kaduna Worshippers, Buddhists, etc.?

YOU ARE DISGUISING A JIHAD UNDER RESTRUCTURING. YOU SEE YOURSELF FIRST AS A MUSLIM, SECONDLY AS A YORUBA, AND FINALLY A NIGERIAN.

What a way to build a nation? From our analysis, the Christians need five more public holidays since the Sunni Muslims have 10 or more. The other denominations also need 10 holidays each. Let the party begin.
SAUDI ARMY DRESSED IN NON-ISLAMIC CHRISTIAN UNIFORMS!