MURIC Alleges Plan To Marginalise Muslims In Operation Amotekun

By Oluwafemi Dele

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), on Friday, raised concerns over what its perceived as  attempt to marginalize Muslims hristianization of the newly launched South-West security outfit ‘Operation Amotekum’, in employment of personnel.

MURIC warned that the South-West Governors should thread with caution on the issue of Amotekum, stressing that there is alleged plans to marginalize the Muslims in the make of the security outfit.

This was contained in a statement, on Friday, signed by MURIC Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

Akintola queried that “Or how does one describe the social media advertisement in which applicants are being requested to bring birth certificates from the church. This is most outrageous.”

He said, “Are the job vacancies which Amotekun is certain to open meant for Christians only? Are the South West states declaring their state as Christian states? Are they joining Nyesome Wike of Rivers in a Christian enclave? Is Amotekun a secret Christian army? Only one out of the five governors in the region is a Muslim. Are the Christian governors ganging up to form a crusader militia?

“Why then must applicants bring birth certificates from churches? Are we sure that this will not be followed by a request for applicants to bring referral letters from pastors? Handlers of Amotekun owe us an explanation. It is after the explanation that we will also declare our next line of action. But right now all we can say is that there are trepidations among Muslims in the region.

“While we await the response of the organisers, we remind them that no security arrangement can succeed in any society without the active support of the people. To get the support of Muslims in the region, we need assurances. The Muslims must be carried along while recruitment being made must not result in lopsided appointments.

“Both Christians and Muslims must be palpably visible as officers and other ranks. Nobody should tell us that there are no capable Muslims to join those handling the recruitment exercise. There are more than enough retired military and police officers who are Muslims.

“Apart from the issue of Christianisation of Amotekun, we are strongly of the opinion that the security outfit will perform better if it avoids stereotyping any particular people. Governors in the sub-region have the task of deradicalisation on their hands. Amotekun operatives must not be seen targeting non-indigenes of the area.

“Amotekun must not be turned into a tool of intimidation. Igbo, Itsekiri, Igbira , Hausa, Fulani, etc who reside in the sub-region must not be stigmatized in any form.

“The operatives must remember that the Yoruba are also spread all over Nigeria. They must not trigger any tit-for-tat scenario.”

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