MURIC: Osinbajo loves Muslims — he’s not pursuing religious agenda

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.

“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.

“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.

“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.”