By James Orji
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is not working against Muslims in Nigeria and it will be wrong to brand him as a hater of the religion, Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, an Islamic rights advocacy group, has said.
MURIC was reacting to a recent claim that most of the appointees in the Vice president office, and those he has appointed into government are mostly Christians. Analysts said the allegation is intended to hurt Osinbajo’s presidential amibtion.
But the group which promotes the interest of Muslims in the country, and has insisted on another politician from the religion to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari after he leaves office, said the vice president has shown enough proof that he loves Muslims.
The Islamic body had recently thrown its weight behind Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos state governor’s quest to become president, even though the latter has yet to declare his intention to run.
Osinbajo is also said to be interested in the nation’s highest office, but had yet to declare interest.
The group cited the appointment of Ade Ipaye, a muslim and former commissioner in Lagos state and 17 other appointees by Osinbajo as a proof that he is not working against Muslims.
MURIC said in a statement that it will not join in the campaign of “blackmail, character assassination” against Osinbajo, adding that it is poised to say the truth no matter who is involved, as it is not in the character of genuine Muslims to do so.
The statement released on Wednesday said, “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.
“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,” the group said.
There is no evidence to link the vice president to any Christianisation agenda, MURIC further stated.
According to Prof. Ishaq Akintola, the group’s leader, “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.”
“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.
“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.”
