Muslim Group Commends Osinbajo, Says He Is Upright

Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern, has defended the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) over recent allegations of religiously intolerance levelled against him by some persons with mischievous and unscrupulous agenda.

MURIC, in a statement issued by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Wednesday, insisted that Osinbajo, a Christian, accommodates other religions and in fact has over 10 Muslims working in his office.

In the statement titled, ‘Osinbajo: MURIC Bares Its Mind’, Akintola said MURIC investigated a certain document alleging Christianisation by the Vice-President and found out that it was untrue.

The statement read in part, “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.

“However, 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.

“The opportunity we refer to occurred way back in 2018 or 2019. It provided a 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.

“What happened was that the director of MURIC was invited to deliver a lecture at an Islamic event organized by the League of Imams, Ikeja branch. We stand to be corrected but at least it was organized by an Ikeja-based Islamic organisation. The programme was held in one of the popular hotels in Ikeja, Lagos. We also remember that Dr. Saheed Timehin, another lecturer from the Lagos State University, delivered the second lecture at the event.

“It was after we arrived at the venue that we learnt that VP Osinbajo was to be the chairman of the occasion or the special guest of honour. We felt that the organisers had committed a fatal mistake by inviting Christian and a pastor for that matter. We thought the VP would not come and if at all he would honour them, he would send a representative. But we were wrong. Yemi Osinbajo was there physically.

“He also gave the organisers so much time after the programme because we remember him inviting about six Muslim leaders to what looked like a conference room. The director of MURIC was one of them. He asked them to table whatever they wanted the Federal Government (FG) to do for their organisations.

“Each leader made his group’s requests. We remember vividly that the request made by MURIC was that FG should free the 54 innocent soldiers who were serving a ten year jail sentence. The Vice President told the director of MURIC to quickly forward a petition to his office in Abuja. The petition was forwarded within three days.

“This is our only personal experience with the VP. We never met him again since then. As usual, the director of MURIC did not attend that lecture alone. He was accompanied by about five members and they all saw the VP that day though they were not in the conference room for the private discussion.

“We can also confirm that the VP was accompanied by the most senior staff in his office, Mr. Abdul Rahman Ipaye, who was mentioned in the article written in defence of the VP. In fact it was Mr. Ipaye who called a week later to confirm that our petition on the 54 soldiers had been received by the VP. This can at least confirm that the VP has Muslim staff in his office.

“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.

“MURIC has no connection whatsoever with the VP. Therefore, we are not doing this because we are close or because we have a deal. The director of MURIC will not take a political appointment. In fact, just a few weeks ago, we had cause to publicly accuse Osinbajo of involvement in the FG’s attempt to demolish the Islamic City on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. We claimed that he was acting as proxy for the Redeemed Camp. But the VP has denied any involvement in that. We have to give him the benefit of doubt.

“We must speak up when a Christian does the right thing. That is objectivity. That is fairness. That is humanity. That is Islam. Speaking up for Muslims alone but closing our eyes when a Christian performs righteous deeds is not fairness. We reject selective activism.

“Allah will ask us yaom al-Qiyamah if we hide this testimony just because the man being accused today is a Christian. Neither should MURIC sweep the truth under the carpet and pretend that it knows nothing simply because the group does not share the same political ideology with the VP. We accused the VP a few weeks ago of being behind FG’s plan to demolish the Islamic city on Lagos –Ibadan Expressway but he has denied any knowledge of it.”