An Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has faulted the stand of a Yoruba socio-cultural group, the Apapo Oodua Koya (AOKOYA) asking deposed Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who arrived Lagos on Saturday, to return to the North.
MURIC in a statement described AOKOYA’s position as mean, callous and inhuman. Sanusi was deposed on Monday, 9th March, 2020 by the Governor of Kano, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and thereafter banished to Awe in Nasarawa State before an Abuja court quashed his banishment and he moved to Lagos immediately.
“We are perturbed by the position of Apapo Oodua Koya. They are asking the deposed Emir who took refuge in Lagos to go back to the North. It is mean, callous and inhuman. That statement is egregious, detestable and nauseating. It smirks of heartlessness, intolerance and gymnastic irredentism. Worse still, it stands in contradistinction to the concept of Omoluabi (meaning well trained in good morals) of which the Yoruba have been well known for ages.
“We remind those behind AOKOYA that Yorubas are equally scattered across Nigeria. They should be wary of actions and utterances capable of inciting other tribes against the Yoruba in other places. This is the time for Yoruba leaders to caution extremist groups in their midst.
“AOKOYA also claimed that the ex-Emir was in Lagos to establish another Fulani Emirate in Yorubaland. Nothing could be more laughable. It is kindergarten, base and pedestrian reasoning. As an intellectually endowed race in this country, we expect that the Yoruba do not need to appeal to primordial sentiments. They are above it. They should therefore purge themselves of elements capable of whipping up irrational, illogical and unacceptable ideas.
“We also remind people in the South West in particular and across Nigeria in general that Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees freedom of movement as well as freedom to reside in any part of the country. The section says, ‘Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereto or exit therefrom’
“We therefore call on the government of Lagos State to provide adequate security and comfort for the former emir just as it has always done for all its citizens. We advise the Yoruba group to distance itself from acrobatic xenophobia and to learn the arts of courtesy, civility and kindness. It must add a human face to activism. We have no scintilla of doubt that no true Omoluabi will reject a guest in a period of travail.
“The Yoruba race is one of the most accommodating on the African continent. This informs the popular Yoruba proverb ‘Oju alejo ni a ti nya owo, eyin re la nsan’, meaning, we can borrow money in the presence of a guest (to entertain him) and pay back after he has left. This proverb provides indisputable testimony to the uncommon hospitality of the Yoruba race. Yoruba leaders of today must not allow merchants of aggravated ethnicity to tarnish this good image.”
