The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has once again reaffirmed its support for the use of the presidential jet by Hanan Buhari, one of the daughters of President Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n
In a statement made available to DAILY POST by the director of the organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Thursday, MURIC re-echoed its position on the matter.<\/p>\n
The use of the presidential jet by members of Buhari\u2019s family has met a lot criticisms.<\/p>\n
MURIC wonders why Nigerians failed to appreciate the fact that the father of a Northern girl-child had not given her out in early marriage contrary to the common practice in the region but has been encouraged to pursue Western education.<\/p>\n
The group accused critics of insincerity and ethnic bias.<\/p>\n
The statement added, \u201cA Tsunami of criticisms trailed our statement of Monday, 13th January, 2019 in which we expressed solidarity with Hanan Buhari, one of the daughters of President Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n
\u201cThough mainly motivated by political prejudice, the criticism cut across religions. Our organisation was taken to the cleaners simply because we refused to wailers in bashing a honest man.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the point is that there is always two sides to a coin. Unfortunately wailers will not bother to look at the other side. Why must we all reason along one direction? We can take the bashing. We don\u2019t mind so long as we are convinced that we are on the right path. Truth is constant.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne particular aspect has jogged our mind again: the fact that Hanan Buhari is from a region which is considered to be conservative and educationally backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a region where millions of male children roam the streets in almajiri fashion while parents keep the girl-child at home, marry them off at tender age and declare Western education as taboo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who are crying foul today are part of those shedding crocodile tears over the neglect of the girl-child. Well, something phenomenal happened in the Hanan Buhari narrative.<\/p>\n
\u201cA girl-child from this same conservative, education-shy region bagged a first class in a London university where education has genuine quality and first class actually means first class. Isn\u2019t that alone worth celebrating? Isn\u2019t that alone capable of inspiring other girls in the region?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was exactly what MURIC referred to when it said in its first statement that Hanan Buhari was an inspiration. We repeat it once again without any fear of contradiction that she is, indeed, an inspiration and a model.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigerians from a section of the country have for long been lampooning Northerners for giving out their daughters in marriage at tender age. We now have a father who did not do that but took his time to allow his daughter to get the best education available.<\/p>\n
\u201cLo and behold! Nigerians went for his jugular. Who did this to Nigeria? It is now clear that those making noise over early marriage and neglect of Western education in the North had never been sincere. They were more interested in deriding a whole region and reviling others in self-righteousness.<\/p>\n
\u201cMischief led a section of the media to twist our statement by giving it a wrong caption in order to mislead the general public and also to cast aspersion on MURIC.<\/p>\n
The mischievous caption read, \u2018MURIC Says Hanan Buhari is an Inspiration While Flying in Presidential Jet.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course that was far from our intention. We were called all sorts of unprintable names. That should not worry us anyway. Any organization or individual who wants to change society must be prepared to stomach criticism, both fair and unfair.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made it clear in our statement that the issue of the presidential jet was not major. We insisted that the lessons inherent in a president\u2019s daughter studying photography and working so hard at her studies as to bag a first class degree was more important to us. We said it was capable of inspiring the youth, particularly girls in the region, to imbibe hard work.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was likely to create an indelible impression on the Northern girl-child. We said we were proud of Hanan. We still are till tomorrow. We stand by this statement. We have no apologies for that. No retreat, no surrender.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome even alleged that our statement was too pro-North and that our stand was capable of hurting the Yoruba agenda. We consider this as a gross misunderstanding of MURIC\u2019s mission. The fact that our headquarters is in Lagos does not make us a Yoruba group. Far from that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a completely detribalised group. Our membership spreads to all tribes, including the South-East and the South-South. Our mission is to unite Nigeria. This is why we have consistently stood by the truth and the truth alone no matter whose ox is gored. We will not promote any sectional agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat manner of people are we in this country? We hail loafers and loath workers. We idolize thieves and demonise honest people. What crime has the president\u2019s daughter committed? A young lady went for studies as the daughter of the Number One citizen in our land.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had all the reason in the world to indulge in self-glorification but she elected to work hard and she excelled. She came back with the highest laurel from a British university where you cannot buy grades with either your look or your cash.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe came back home believing that she has neither disappointed her parents nor her compatriots. But we chose to pour invectives on her instead of encomiums. Who cursed Nigeria?<\/p>\n
\u201cOur message to Hanan is very simple: ignore the wailers. They are in the \u2018bad belle\u2019 camp. But they cannot undo what Allah has done. Continue to do your parents proud and stay focused.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are not alone. Millions of Nigerians North and South of the Niger are with you. Honest and hardworking Nigerians appreciate you. It is your moment of glory. Savour it. Glow and shine in its euphoria.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe laid little emphasis on the presidential jet. People will continue to play politics with it and that is what has happened. What has Hanan\u2019s father done wrong?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t the father be happy with a daughter who did him proud in a foreign land? We do not see why a biological daughter of the Nigerian president cannot, once in a while, have access to it for an important purpose like Hanan has done.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States is a great democracy. Yet we have seen pictures of President Trump\u2019s daughter, her husband and their little son as they boarded Air Force One for a trip. It is a pity that Nigeria\u2019s democracy leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to grow up. From the daughters of George Bush to those of Lincoln and Obama, White House kids had broken the rules. Ex-President Obama\u2019s daughter, Malia, was filmed smoking pot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bush twins, Jenna and Barbara were drunkards. They were also caught using fake identity cards in 2001. Patty Davis was notorious for sexual recklessness bothering on nymphomania. Luci Johnson almost burnt down the White House.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompared to the White House daughters, Hanan is a pleasure to behold and a treasure to possess. Unfortunately Nigerians will not appreciate what they have in the daughter, just as they do not cherish the father who sits on their wealth and has refused to steal one kobo. When will Nigerians know the difference between pure gold and ordinary sand?<\/p>\n
\u201cTo cap the edifice, we wish to correct the wrong impression created that we said Hanan flying in the presidential jet was an inspiration. What we actually said was that Hanan\u2019s educational feat was an inspiration to the Northern girl-child and that there was nothing wrong with her using the jet for that particular assignment which we, in good conscience, cannot consider as private.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reaffirm our pride in Hanan and we concretise our faith and vote of confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari as an exemplary father and president of our great country, Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has once again reaffirmed its support for the use of the presidential jet by Hanan Buhari, one of the daughters of President Muhammadu Buhari. In a statement made available to DAILY POST by the director of the organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Thursday, MURIC re-echoed its position on the matter. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":15355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[97,721],"class_list":["post-20190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-buhari","tag-muric"],"yoast_head":"\n