Muslim Group Slams Ohanaeze For ‘Sympathising With Looters’

The Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has come under severe criticism of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) for allegedly sympathising with looters.

MURIC accused the Ohanaeze Ndigbo of using tribal sentiments to pull down President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war.

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The Muslim group said this after the Igbo group condemned Federal Government’s bid to probe Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, for alleged non-declaration of 22 assets.

“Sen. Ekweremadu is a revered Igbo son whose public image is very high and who has attracted a lot of development to his area; he has never occupied any public office where he was accused of embezzlement,” said Ohanaeze, accusing the government of persecuting the Senator for belonging to the Igbo ethnic extraction and an opposition party.

But reacting to the claim by the Igbo group on Monday, MURIC, in a statement by its Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, wondered why the citizens would be celebrating alleged “thieves and morally barren people”.

The statement read: “In the case at hand, Ohanaeze allegedly complains that Igbo sons are being singled out. This is far from being the case. 23 names are on the second list, for example. How many of them are Igbo? Is Adesola Amosun an Igbo man? Are Babangida Aliyu, Jonah Jang, Rasheed Ladoja from the South East? Are Omokore and Aluko Igbo names? What will happen if the Yoruba, Hausa and other ethnic groups make the same allegation?

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“MURIC appeals to Nigerians to avoid jumping to emotional conclusions. We should learn to critically assess the facts of any allegation. But above all, we should allow the courts to be the last arbiters. A political culture which readily (and laughably) extenuates offences committed by people of our ethnic background, religion or political party is capable of leading Nigeria to perdition.

“How can we, in good conscience, celebrate thieves and morally barren people? How can we complain of bad governance yet we sympathise with looters? Are we so hypocritical that we cannot face the truth? We are the cause of all the bad things we accuse our leaders of if we cannot allow the government to punish evil doers. We will never be able to stop corruption. It will be evil ad infinitum. It means we are finished as a people.

“Corruption is being reduced in other climes by punishing corrupt leaders but in Nigeria, we are being tied down by tribal, religious and political sentiments. Militants always start blowing up oil installations the moment the government makes any move to make ex-President Jonathan or his wife accountable. Who did this to Nigeria?”

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