Several times, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) have taken umbrage to many issues in the country even when the issues have absolutely nothing to do with religion. The same thing can be said of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). If we want to be perfectly honest, staying in the news is big business for religious organisations.

The recently released video by Nigerian rapper Falz has caught the attention of MURIC. The video addressed several burning issues in the country ranging from terrorism to corruption, religious crisis, killings by suspected herdsmen, police brutality among other numerous ills. But MURIC decided to find fault with the usage of Hijab by some dancers and the way herdsmen were portrayed in the video.

Speaking through its Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, MURIC maintained that the video is spiteful and intended to denigrate Islam and Muslims. Akintola said, “The video manifests ethnic bias against Fulanis while it ignored the criminal activities of ethnic militias of the Middle Belt who have also massacred Fulani’s and rustled their cattle’s in their thousands. It is a hate video. This video has the potential of causing religious crisis of unprecedented dimension”.

The ills in the country is taking its toll on both Christians and Muslims in the country, as a result, these issues must be addressed without religious sentiment. The Boko Haram crisis has affected both Muslims and Christians, the herdsmen crisis has casualties on both sides of the religious divide and the corruption in the country has brought hardship on everyone regardless of religion. So why can’t we come together to condemn it?

This selective approach by MURIC is a wrong step in addressing the issues of poor governance in the country. They should do better next time.

tosin adesina