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The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has demanded clarifications for the presence of American troops in Nigeria.
The group expressed concern for the safety of Muslim leaders in particular and the sovereignty of Nigeria in general. It interrogated US goal of protecting Nigerian Christians and also called on Nigerian leaders to take hold of the nation’s destiny.
The Executive Director of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Professor Ishaq Akintola, in a statement said .
”The United States of America confirmed three days ago that its troops were already on ground in Nigeria ().
”The Federal Government (FG) also confirmed this later on the same day , although the Defence Minister, General Christopher Musa, later said they were ‘not combat forces’.
“MURIC considers this development as an overreach and the secrecy surrounding US troop deployment to Nigeria disturbing. While we welcome cooperation between Nigeria and the US in the fight against terrorism, we do not think US boots on ground is necessary. In the first place, we regard it as a discriminatory, and selective response of the US to the question of religious persecution in Nigeria.”
“We assert that there is nothing like Christian genocide in Nigeria. What we have is terrorism, insecurity and religious persecution on both sides of Christians and Muslims and what we lack is religious tolerance.
“For greater clarity, Muslims in Southern Nigeria have been suffering from religious persecution in the hands of their Christian compatriots for decades if not centuries.
“These persecutions are legendary although the Nigerian authorities have turned deaf ears to their cries to date. But Southern Muslims have not taken it upon themselves to falsely accuse their Christian counterparts of ‘Muslim genocide’.
“The case of terrorism and other issues of insecurity are another cup of tea and it affects Nigerians of all faith. It therefore beggars belief that America, a nation regarded as the champion of democracy, freedom and equal rights will descend on Nigeria to selectively fight or ‘protect’ one group.
“If the US should promote democratic principles of freedom of religion in Nigeria at all, it has a moral duty not to be selective but to promote freedom for both Christians and Muslims who are in captivity. There should be no selective solutions to religious persecution anywhere in the world.
“If, therefore, it is true that US troops are already on ground in Nigeria, we demand that there should be no clampdown on religious activities of Muslims or on Muslim leaders. No Muslim leader should disappear or be assassinated and no renditions.
“We note that the Federal Government (FG) called the American forces on ground a ‘small team’. But even that ‘small team’ of US troops in Nigeria amounts to the presence of a Christian Army in view of the emphasis given the goal of US invasion embodied in US President Trump’s pre-strike and pre-US-troops’ deployment rhetoric (protecting Nigerian Christians).
“Against this backdrop, the perception of Nigerian Muslims (and the global Muslim community) concerning the presence of US troops in Nigeria would have been different if America’s stated goal ab initio had been to protect law abiding Nigerians (including people of all faiths) to eliminate terrorists and to stop the spate of killings generally.
“But the stated objective of protecting Christians only makes any American boot on ground in Nigeria a Christian Army (with all its implications). It also constitutes a threat to global peace as many people around the world, especially Muslims now see the presence of American troops in the country as an attempt to intimidate the Nigerian majority Muslim population.*
“Millions of Southern Muslims have been forcefully converted to Christianity, particularly in the South West while thousands of Muslims in the South East face the threat of death unless they converted to Christianity. A new video clip which emerged last week showed a Christian militant from the South East inciting Christians to kill any Muslim they see around. Hundreds of Muslims have been killed in the South East in the past ten years.
“Those Muslims in Southern Nigeria who have persevered in the face of persecution in the hands of their Christian neighbours and those who have also resisted attempts at forced conversion will find it difficult to believe that the ‘small team’ of US troops is not a Christian Army eventually deployed to force them to accept Christianity at gun point unless America waters down its pro-Christian and anti-Muslim rhetoric by using such language that reflects respect for the dignity of Nigerian Muslims.*
“In the same way that mainstream Nigerian Muslims will not surrender to terrorism, we will not give in to imperialist intimidation. What is happening today is not different from neo-imperialist terrorism. Already, some Nigerian Christians have started using the presence of US troops in Nigeria to harass Muslims in the country. This is absolutely unacceptable
While interviewing the son of a former Nigerian president who is a Muslim, an anchor lady on a popular Nigerian cable television network also said the US strike was targeted at Sokoto so as to emphasise the importance of a Christian cleric who lives in the city and to earn him more respect!
“We assert very firmly that Nigerian Muslims will hold the National Assembly (NASS) responsible for failing to ask the necessary questions. What part of the cooperation between Nigeria and the US necessitates the presence of US troops on Nigerian soil? Has the Nigerian Constitution been suspended? Was the NASS carried along? Why did the Federal Government (FG) fail to inform Nigerians about the plan? Who is paying for the operation, the accommodation of US troops, feeding, etc: Nigerian tax payers or US tax payers?
“Before we exit from this conversation, we note that the conspiratorial silence from the Nigerian civil society, students bodies, workers unions, etc on the issue of American troops on Nigerian soil is baffling. If these groups are silent because of the assumption that America has come for Nigerian Muslims only, we remind them of the words of Martin Niemöller, a German Lutheran pastor in the hands of Nazi Germany.*
He said, ‘First they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist. Then they came for the socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.
“Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me’.
*“By the way, FG described the presence of the American troops in the country as a ’small’ team of American soldiers. This description needs to be interrogated. How ‘small’ is ‘small’?