The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is pushing a religious agenda ahead of the 2023 elections as it has implored Yoruba Muslims to desist from voting Christian Presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.
This was contained in a statement issued by the MURIC Director, Ishaq Akintola on Monday.
His call effectively rules out Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who is a Christian from the south-west as there has been a push in recent times by some supporters to have him contest as president come 2023.
Akintola further stated that any party that picks a Yoruba Christian as its 2023 candidate should forget Muslim votes.
“No political party should tell us that they cannot find competent Yoruba Muslims.
“No Yoruba Muslim ever occupied the State House either as president or vice president since 1960.
“Presidential aspirants and parties should map out strategies ahead of the next elections over this mandate,” he noted.
Akintola also condemned the “stigmatisation galore” for Yoruba Muslims in Nigeria since independence.
The organization claimed they are denied almost all civil liberties, including admission into schools.
According to him, many Muslims especially women undergo stigmatisation in the process of obtaining international passports, driving licences and voter registration cards because they are asked to remove their hijab for capturing.
He said schools humiliate hijab-wearing female Muslim students while the courts in the South-West are littered with litigations “on this ignoble stereotyping”.
“It is our belief that Yoruba Muslims need federal might to eliminate or at least scale down the tornado of oppression and the Tsunami of anti-Muslim sentiment.
“Only a Yoruba Muslim president who knows what has been happening can do this effectively. Who feels it, knows it”, Akintola insisted.
