A video emerged today Friday, 23rd February, 2024 in which a man dressed like an Islamic scholar was calling for the killing of Nigeria’s First Lady and wife of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the basis of her being a Christian and a pastor.
However, an Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has disowned the man in the video. The organization said his teachings are misleading, his claims are false while his identity is spurious and ambiguous. He is not known as an Islamic scholar. The group therefore appealed to the First Family and the rest of Nigerians to ignore him.
Akintola said :
“In a video clip that went viral today, Friday 23rd February, 2024, a man who dressed like an Islamic scholar was seen calling for the killing of Nigeria’s First Lady and wife of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the basis of her being a Christian and a pastor.
“We hereby declare the video clip as arrant nonsense, arbitrary, absurd and a product of misguidance, misinformation and maradonised religiousity. It is saddening, most unfortunate. It is not impossible that this is a product of political machination with malicious intent to cause mayhem.
“He is definitely not an Islamic scholar. His spoken words indicate that he knows next to nothing about Islam. We are constrained to write him off as a mere rabble-rouser. He is either an agent of those whose sole aim is to destabilise the country, an attention seeker or an eminently qualified tenant for a psychiatric home.
“This man’s teachings are misleading, his claims are false while his identity is spurious and ambiguous. He is not known as an Islamic scholar. We therefore appeal to the First Family and the rest of Nigerians to ignore him while Muslim leaders in the North try to identify him with a view to guiding him properly.
“All efforts made by MURIC to identify the man failed so far because he is neither popular nor is he a known Islamic scholar. One of the leaders of MURIC in the North said, ‘I have watched and listened to the man and of all the popular Islamic scholars in the north, this is the first time I am coming across this man.
“The MURIC leader added, ‘From his accent, he is a Sokoto or Kebbi man and our MURIC Sokoto or Kebbi should be able to identify him. Definitely this man lacks knowledge in Islam, he holds an extremist view and should therefore be reported to the security agencies for appropriate sanctions. These are the zealots who pushed the ignorant youths into extremism and violence. He is not representing Islam and should therefore be disowned and condemned’.
“Nothing in the Glorious Qur’an, the Hadith and the Sunnah justifies the man’s clangorous diatribes against the First Lady. His claims are false, malicious, baseless and therefore unacceptable by any standard whatsoever.
“The cleric’s pronouncement stands in contra-distinction to the true teachings of Islam which promotes mutual cooperation between Muslims and their neighbors regardless of differences in faith or ethnicity. The Qur’an forbids the killing of innocent people even if they are not Muslims (Glorious Qur’an 6:151).
“The man failed to provide any verse of the Qur’an, Hadith or Sunnah which supports his dubious claim. He should therefore be ignored and his pronouncement regarded as the rantings of a misguided person. At best, his pronouncement may be regarded as politically motivated.
“Meanwhile we remind religious leaders of the need to be careful with their pronouncements. Their followers consider their statements as the gospel truth, even sometimes as commandments. Reckless utterances from them are capable of causing social combustion the outcome of which no one can fathom.
“For instance, the man’s thoughtless declaration in the video clip came at a time when the First Lady had just paid a visit to Kano. She was there a week ago commissioning some projects. What would have happened if the his provocative statement had come two weeks earlier? What are the dimensions if she has to pay another visit to any other northern state before 2027? Should we begin to have palpitations of the heart?
“Whoever knows this man should caution him. We declare, nonetheless, that his pronouncement does not represent the view of the rest of the Ummah. To us, the First Lady, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, is a pleasant woman, a good wife and a mother of all. She has always comported herself with decorum, her language has always been parliamentary while her demeanor has been graceful at all times.
“We assure the First Lady and all members of the First Family of the love and solidarity of Nigerian Muslims. We urge them to put this ugly incident behind them.
“We advise Islamic scholars of Northern extraction to identify and call the man behind this atrocious and horrendous video to order. We demand a retraction from him because his declaration is capable of causing an implosion within the Ummah.
“Finally, while leaders and members of MURIC in the Northern states are making efforts to identify the scholar in the video, we implore the security agencies to handle the matter with utmost tact and professionalism taking full cognisance of the present situation in the country and the pronouncements of certain dignitaries from both the North and South.”
