“It’s a shame that those who claim to be men of honour cannot honour their word.”
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), an Islamic rights advocacy group, says Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo loves and accommodates Muslims despite being a Christian and a member of the clergy.
The group was reacting to a recent allegation accusing Osinbajo of pursuing a religious agenda by appointing and nominating mostly Christians into government.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by Ishaq Akintola, MURIC director, the group said it conducted an investigation into the matter and discovered it to be false.
MURIC said the vice-president accommodates Muslims and has appointed about 18 of them into his office.
The group said objectivity demands that it speak up for the good Christians who do the right thing.
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“Blackmail, character assassination, fake news and disinformation are not in the character of Muslims. It has never been part of us. Hurting the innocent is equally alien to our DNA. Instead of hanging their actions on the necks of their adversaries, Muslims own up when they are the culprits. They prefer to be punished in this world in order to escape from the punishment of the hereafter,” the statement reads.
“It is our oppressors who always make sure that they are the first to cry out when indeed they are the aggressors. No true Islamic group will engage in mischief, lies, deceit and intrigues. Genuine Islamic groups are transparent. You can read them just as you read a book.
“It is these characteristics that have been nagging at our conscience since the controversy surrounding the allegation of Christianisation levelled against Vice President Osinbajo began. The great Shaykh Uthman Bin Fudi said ‘Conscience is like a wound, only truth can heal it. Our conscience was jogged and it is only by telling the world what we know that we can have rest of mind.
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“During our investigation, we stumbled on an article written by a female Muslim presidential aide in the VP’s office. The article, which surfaced recently on social media, affirmed the presence of 18 Muslim officials in Osinbajo’s office. The onus is on those who accused the VP of Christianisation to prove that some or all of those Muslim names in the VP’s office were fabricated to convince Nigerian Muslims that the VP is neither a hater nor an oppressor of Muslims.”
The group said it also discovered that one Abdul Rahman Ipaye, a Muslim, is the most senior staff member in the office of the vice-president.
“An opportunity to confirm one of the claims made in the article defending the VP came our way just by chance and we feel compelled by principle to share the information since we are stakeholders. Nations are built by stakeholders who speak the truth. On the other hand, they are destroyed by those who withhold the same truth,” it said.
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“The opportunity we refer to occurred way back in 2018 or 2019. It provided concrete and undeniable evidence which we witnessed by ourselves as a group and it confirmed that Mr Abdul Rahman Ipaye, a Muslim and a former commissioner in Lagos State who was mentioned in the article as the highest staff in the VP’s office is, indeed, a bona fide staff of Osinbajo.
“MURIC is known for raising its voice against those who oppress Muslims but we do not wish to be known for remaining silent when we see Christians who accommodate Muslims. Objectivity demands that we speak up for the good Christian who accommodates Muslims. This is what we are doing today so that our consciences can rest.”
The Cable
Tinubu’s refusal to honour Seyi’s pact with us disappointing – Nnamdi Kanu’s family
The family of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, have expressed disappointment over the failure of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to honour an alleged agreement between his son Seyi , and the family before the 2023 general election.
Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, in a statement, claimed that Seyi with the approval of his father, personally met with him in Abuja shortly before the election, where both parties entered into agreement concerning Kanu.
According to him, it was agreed that IPOB would not bycott the polls on the condition that Tinubu would release Kanu if elected President.
Prince Emmanuel expressed disappointment that nearly two years after the emergence of Tinubu as President, his brother (Kanu), has continued to languish in detention despite the fact that the presiding Judge, Justice Binta Nyako, had since recused herself from the matter.
He said it was disappointing that those who claimed to be honourable, failed to keep their words.
The statement read:”Before the last election, I received a message from an ex-governor that Seyi the son of President Tinubu wanted to see me. I agreed to meet with him on the condition that the overriding priority and hence the fulcrum of our discussion will be the release of my brother. The meeting was held in Abuja in the presence of another individual whom I asked along to witness the deliberations and if need be provide independent verification should the need arise.
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“Seyi confirmed to me that his father sanctioned the meeting and that I should consider any agreement we reach as binding on the then candidate Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“In good faith we agreed that I shall relay the outcome to my brother to reinforce the long held tradition of IPOB not interfering with the conduct of elections, either through boycott or any other form of civil disobedience. This understanding was duly communicated to my brother and he reaffirmed his commitment not to stop the elections or order any boycott.
“When President Tinubu as a candidate visited Owerri during his campaign, he too reiterated his commitment to facilitate the release of my brother if elected. We took his public statement as a tacit reaffirmation of the understanding I reached with his son Seyi.
“At the end, IPOB did not call for election boycott despite having the capacity to do so. IPOB also made sure that discordant voices urging election boycott were overcome because election boycotts would not reflect well on the reputation of a global movement that prides itself on adherence to democratic tenets.
“It therefore, defies logic that nearly two years after President Tinubu assumed the mantle of leadership in Nigeria, my brother is still in detention despite not having any charge against him. It’s been over three months now that Justice Binta Nyako recused herself from the case yet no new judge has been assigned the case.
“This is on top of the fact that Appeal Court had earlier discharged him of the sham charges and ordered his release which the previous regime of Buhari declined to obey.
“Supreme Court determination that his bail ought not to have been revoked has been ignored by the courts and the government. The latest insult is that Abuja courts of all persuasion are no longer willing to determine the case of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on merit but are rather relying on ludicrous and inapplicable technicalities to stall the timely determination of his cases.
“The truth is that Nigerian courts cannot, will not and do not have both the substantive and procedural jurisdiction to try him. His detention is without the backing of any known law in Nigeria or elsewhere in the world.
“It’s a shame that those who claim to be men of honour cannot honour their word.”
Jealous husband stabs Bishop to death over allege affair with wife
A jealous husband has been reported to have stabbed a Bishop of a Church in Osogbo, Rapture Empowerment International, Dr Sina Olaribigbe for allegedly having an affair with his wife.
It was gathered that the jealous husband and his wife had a long misunderstanding which the deceased was trying to settle between them, but had not succeeded.
It was learnt that the deceased visited the wife, who lived separately with the husband early hours on Thursday and the husband got the hint and quickly trailed to the house.
Findings revealed that on getting to the house, located around BCGA area behind Olorunda local government Secretariat in Osogbo, Osun State capital, the jealous husband who had been getting hints of the Bishop’s affair with his wife descended on him and stabbed him severally on the chest.
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A member of the Church, Isaac Oyeleye confirmed that the Bishop was stabbed to death on his Facebook page on Thursday, describing his death as unfortunate.
Confirming the incident, Osun Police Command spokesperson, CSP Yemisi Opalola confirmed the incident, adding that the suspect and the enstraged wife have been arrested.
She said the couple were not living together and the deceased Bishop was an arbitrator trying to settle the dispute between the couple.
Her words, “They are couple but not living together. They are not separated by law yet. The Bishop, (deceased) used to settle fight between the couple. We were told the pastor was at the wife’s place today when the enstranged husband got there.
“We were also told the husband stabbed the pastor. We were also told the deceased was on the wife’s bed when the incident happened. The husband stabbed him severally and he died”
Police arrest couple over alleged rape, assault of minor
The Police Command in Rivers has confirmed the arrest of a couple for allegedly raping and beating a 13-year-old girl in their residence in Port Harcourt.
The command’s Spokesperson, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, disclosed the development in an interview with Newsmen in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
The wife was said to have stripped the teenager and inserted pepper into her private part after accusing her of having sexual intercourse with her husband.
Iringe-Koko stated that the suspects had been arrested and transferred to the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (SCIID) for investigation and possible prosecution.
Goodness, the mother of the teenager, whose full name was withheld to avoid stigmatisation, recounted the incident to Newsmen.
A resident of Rupokwu town in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Goodness revealed that the assault on her daughter occurred on the evening of Dec. 29, 2024.
She explained that when she was alerted by neighbours about the attack on her daughter by a neighbour, she immediately closed her shop and rushed home.
“Before I got home, neighbours had already rescued my daughter from the wife’s assault.
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“My daughter was still writhing in pain from the beating and the pepper applied to her body and private area,” she said.
Goodness said that after her daughter felt relieved, she revealed that on Dec. 25, 2024, a female neighbour, who is a friend to the wife, took her to the house.
She said that on that fateful day, the man sent his wife and her friend on an errand, leaving the teenager alone with him in the house.
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