THE general elections are fast approaching and Muslims as vicegerents of Allah have the divine responsibility to be actively involved as voters and office seekers.
The Muslim Ummah of South West of Nigeria (MUSWEN) stated this in a communique after a three-day ‘Strategic Retreat’ held in Gbongan, Osun State, last weekend.
The body urged all Muslims of voting age to obtain their Permanent Voters Card and those who have obtained theirs to protect them and use the cards to elect purposeful leaders.
MUSWEN in the communique signed by its executive secretary, Professor Muslih Yahya and president, Alhaji Rasaki Oladejo, noted what it called the high-pitched and tension-soaked political situation in the country “with aspirant, across all levels flagrantly disregarding modesty, oozing unprecedentedly large-scale corruption, as also prevalent even in sensitive government quarters.”
It appealed to politicians and political office seekers to play the game according to the rules and bear in mind that power belongs only to Allah who gives it to whomsoever He pleases and removes it from whomsoever He wishes.
MUSWEN expressed concern about the violence reported in the conduct of the primaries of some political parties, saying this indicated that many politicians still regarded politics as a do-or-die affair.
“We therefore call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to apply the relevant laws against erring office seekers who are well known to the electoral body since its officials monitored the primaries,” it said.
The body also noted that the general air of insecurity and criminality across all regions of the country was on a disturbing increase “with no clear design or strategy by governments to stem or stop the trend.”
It called on the federal and state governments to view the security situation as “totally intolerable,” imploring the security chiefs to up their game from what now appeared to be a state of helplessness of their part.
The communique also said: “The protracted shutdown of public universities betrays a most intolerable indifference on the part of government with relevant officials openly trivialising the wanton wastage of the fate of a whole generation of citizens leaving the nations future hanging in uncertain balance.
“There is high infrastructural inadequacy which has been ignored almost interminably inflicting on us a most irritating condition of education and healthcare in spite of the indispensability of the sectors
“The Federal Government should immediately accede to the legitimate demands of ASUU and pay more attention to issues affecting the entire educational sector.”
“Religious and community leaders must constantly educate and engage the citizenry, especially the youth on the need for peaceful co-existence and respect for sanctity of human lives and respect for religious beliefs of other.
“MUSWEN condemns in unmistaken terms, the brutal and inhuman murder of a pregnant Muslim woman and her four children in Anambra State recently and called on security agencies to fish out the killers and bring them to justice. MUSWEN equally deplores the killing of a Christian female student in Sokoto State for alleged blasphemy.
“While we condemn blasphemy against Prophet Muhammed (PBOH) and other principal personalities in other religions, we are in agreement with the position of Sharia that sanctions for any offence, including blasphemy can only be applied by constituted authorities after judicial pronouncements.
“MUSWEN calls on Muslims in South West Nigeria and indeed nationwide to continue to live in harmony with their non-Muslim neighbours.”
According to the communique, the retreat, which was organised to revalidate MUSWEN’s 2019-2030 plan, aptly described as ‘Vision 2030’, was attended by leaders of select Muslim bodies, including Muslim Community Leaders of South West States of Nigeria, Nasril Lahi-l-Fatih Society (NASFAT), The Companion, Anwar-Ul-Islam, Muslim Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nawair-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, The Criterion as well as the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN).
Other attendees were Muslim leaders of thought from the academia, business and the professions, including Malam Yusuf Ali, SAN.
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