A viral video clip showed a section of protesters yesterday calling on the army to take over the government. However, an Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has advised the military authorities to ignore the call. The human rights group described the call as revealing, defeatist and escapist.
MURIC’s comment came on Saturday, 3rd August, 2024, via its Founder and Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The full statement reads:
“A section of protesters yesterday was seen singing praises of soldiers who were on duty to maintain law and order. They sang and danced, calling on the army to take over the government.
“MURIC strongly condemns this behaviour. It is a shameful abuse of democratic norm, recklessness in the use of free speech and articulated thoughtlessness. Such an invitation to the army to take over government can only come from people suffering from NAFDAC-certificated ignorance and desertification of civilized demeanor.
“Notwithstanding, this development is as revealing as it is defeatist and escapist. The call has exposed where the organisers of the protest are coming from. It also confirms the narrative pushed by the security agencies ab initio that
infiltrators were standing by to unleash anarchy on Nigeria if the ongoing protest was allowed.
“The protests could have been banned outrightly but the president, being a true democrat and an activist himself, allowed the protesters to come out to have their say.
“The Nigerian security agencies have now been proved right. By extending open invitation to the army to take over government, some of these protesters have proved that they are anarchists. By burning and looting, the protesters have proved that they are not peaceful protesters but rioters and insurrectionists of the Trump political chromosome.
“They came with only one agenda, namely, to topple a legitimately and democratically installed government. The West must not ignore this fact. People openly calling on the army to take over government in Nigeria are undisguised threats to democracy, the rule of law and free speech. Calling for military coup in Nigeria creates scenarios similar to those of Chad and Niger in recent time. It poses serious threat to Western interests as well.
“We therefore call on the Federal Government to deal decisively with troublemakers among the protesters (within the ambits of the law). It is treasonable to invite the army to topple a constitutionally and democratically elected government. Those who can be identified in the video must be dealt with in order to serve as deterrents.
“MURIC advises the Nigerian Army to ignore this ignoble, repugnant and unsolicited invitation. It is the work of desperate politicians and bad losers. Nigerians will continue to respect a completely professional army. Military rule is out of fashion and it can only open a tsunami of sanctions on this country. The call to the army is not only archaic and anachronistic, it is also myopic and parochial.”
