Yoruba Muslims won’t support non-Muslim for president in 2023 — MURIC

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has advocated for Yoruba Muslim candidates to vie for the 2023 presidency in Nigeria as Muslims in the South-West would not support a Christian to run for the election.

In a statement on Friday by MURIC’s Director General, Professor Ishaq Akintola, the group said Yoruba Muslims had been at the “receiving end of political and religious persecution in the country for too long” and they were ready to change the narrative come 2023.

MURIC queried why no single Yoruba Muslim had ever been president in the country since independence to date, adding that Yorubas that had occupied the highest political position in the country had been Christians.

The statement alleged that even in some South-West states, Muslims had suffered marginalisation in the appointment of commissioners and other political positions by the governors of Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo and Ogun, adding that in the interest of fairness and equity, “it was time to allow a Yoruba Muslim to occupy Nigeria’s number one seat come 2023.”

“Are Yoruba Muslims third-class or second-class citizens? Are we not equal before the law? It is our strong belief that the narrative will only change when a Yoruba Muslim occupies Aso Rock. Who feels it knows it,” the statement said.

Continuing, the group said:

“Yorubas have been heads of state, president and vice president but all those who got there have always been Christians.

READ ALSO: MURIC backs Tinubu for president, says he’s a candidate with ‘impeccable pedigree’

“So, we have had three Christians of Yoruba extraction in Aso Rock at different times. It is therefore natural to ask why there hasn’t been any Yoruba Muslim politician in Aso Rock all these years, particularly from 1979 to date.

“President Buhari’s tenure ends in 2023 and the South-West is already warming up. Will it still be fair for another Christian from the South-West to occupy Aso Rock come 2023?

“Our message to all political parties is loud and clear. Yoruba Muslims will not support any non-Muslim presidential candidate put forward by any political party. To our brothers in the North, we call for solidarity for a Yoruba Muslim presidential candidate from any political party.”

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