The Osun State Chapter of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called the attention of security agencies and well-meaning Nigerians to the misdemeanors of Pastor Akintaro Joshua Ojo over his recent utterances which are capable of plummeting Osun and the entire South West Nigeria into chaos and religious war.
Just few days into mourning Deborah whose brutal killing MURIC condemned along with her senseless and audacious act of blasphemy, and as if that was not enough, a pastor by name Akintaro Joshua released an audio tape raining insults on Allah (The Supreme Creator), Islam, the Qur’an, and The Noble prophet of Islam Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him (SAW), an effrontery far more dangerous than one could imagine and which no sane Muslim can stomach.
Some of his provocative utterances as heard in the audio-visual clip are: ‘We are not as stupid as your Muhammad’; ‘Your Muhammad is a sinner’; ‘There is nothing called Allah or Jibril. Muhammad is the one bearing those names’; ‘Go and tell your leader, Muhammad’s brain is dark and he is daft’; ‘Why call Muhammad ‘holy’, He is not Holy Prophet’.
Akintaro did not only release his rancorous and venomous audio, he also went ahead to include his two mobile numbers which are: 08034201859 and 08188898410 for whoever wants to attack him but nay, we won’t take laws into our hands and we urge all Muslims in Osun State to allow the security agencies to handle this man’s case.
The South West Nigeria is a more delicate area because of its fair share of both Muslims and Christians and any religious war in the zone could possibly wipe out millions of lives.
MURIC has continued to wonder what actually Akintaro wants to achieve in the South West by uttering such slanderous, heinous, malicious,derogatory, and egregious statements about our Lord, Allah, our Prophet Muhammad (SAW), our religion, Islam, and our book, the Glorious Qur’an.
Is it to incite Muslims against Christians? Is it to catalyse another jungle justice? Is it to frustrate the coming elections in Osun? Is it to mar the economic activities in the region? Or is it to destroy the infrastructures in place by inciting a religious war? All these questions and more keep begging for answers.
The Osun State chapter of MURIC calls for calm among several Muslim communities in the state. Please do not take the law into your hand but remain law abiding.
We call on the Osun State Police Command and other law enforcement agencies to quickly wade in lest we witness another mayhem and loss of lives in the South West.
The Osun State chapter of MURIC and the entire Muslim community in the state will not allow Akintaro to mismatch our gentility for cowardice nor heat the polity of Osun especially, when the State election is around the corner. Therefore, instead of organising mob attack, we will allow the law to take its due course.
In line with MURIC’s avowed motto which is ‘Dialogue, No Violence’, MURIC headquarters in Lagos has directed that we should sue Akintaro. He will meet us in court. This is apart from whatever action the security agencies will take against him.
We hereby, call on the Government of the State of Osun, the DSS, all security agencies and most especially, the Commissioner of Police to immediately arrest the said culprit and charge him to court for his blasphemous positions on Allah (The Creator), our Prophet Muhammad, The Qur’an, and Islam. Akintaro must be arrested for attempting to plunge the state into chaos.
Action against Akintaro by the security agencies must be swift and transparent in order to placate angry Muslims. It is the failure of security agents to take action against such blasphemers and trouble-makers in the past which made Muslims in the country to lose confidence in them. It eventually led to self help, jungle justice and mob action which MURIC will never encourage because we are a peace-loving and law-abiding organization. It is our hope that the security agencies will do the needful.
Above all, the man needs to be in protective custody because his highly explosive audio-visual messages have gone viral on social media. Security agents will be helping him if he is quickly arrested because Muslims in the state are already provoked, and rightly so. They are most likely to get more angry if they see him walking freely on the streets.
This is to enable justice be served on Akintaro Joshua and to possibly tame others in his shoes before another religious war erupts.
By Dr. AbdulAzeez Ademokoya
