Share Tinubu’s rice now: MURIC tasks lawmakers

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called on members of the National Assembly (NASS) to ensure proper distribution of thousands of bags of rice and other foodstuffs recently given to them for sharing by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

MURIC said this in a statement issued on Friday by its Executive Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, in Abuja.

“Each of Nigeria’s 109 senators allegedly received N200 million worth of foodstuffs, while their 360 counterparts in the House of Representatives were given N100 million worth each.

“Although an honourable member of the House from Edo was seen in a video gone viral displaying a warehouse filled with thousands of bags of rice, some senators and reps are still denying that they collected palliatives from the president.

"We see this as an attempt to mull or trivialise the Federal Government’s efforts at ameliorating the sufferings of the hoi polloi. Some of our lawmakers are causing confusion.

"How can only one lawmaker openly show his constituents thousands of bags of rice while the rest keep mum? How can the reps admit collecting massive palliatives while senators deny receiving anything? Is the Senate filled with saboteurs and confusionists?" Akintola said.

He added,MURIC demands urgent and immediate clarification from the leaderships of both the the Senate and the House of Representatives. Where are their spokespersons? They must speak up before it is too late. Delay is dangerous. Nigerians are hungry. This is the kind of thing that provokes people. Procrastination is the theft of time. Anarchists look for lacunae like this to spread their tales of horror in order to incite the masses against the government.

“We appeal to the remaining members of the House who have received the palliatives to quickly begin the sharing among their constituents. We also remind them to add publicity to the exercise. This release of a humongous number of bags of foodstuffs deserves an equally aggressive information outflow.

“There are too many enemies of progress out there spreading falsehood,, and the only way to silence them is to spread information about positive acts of government whenever they happen.

“While we appeal to the good Nigerian people to exercise a little patience while the logistics are being sorted out by the lawmakers,. This is definitely not the fault of the government. Tinubu and Shettima have done what they should do by rolling out palliatives. The rest is in the hands of our lawmakers.”

“MURIC will like to assure Nigerians that we will not stop calling out the lawmakers until they distribute what they have received. We are not just here for the Allah-given fundamental rights of Muslims alone. We are also here for the welfare of every single Nigerian, regardless of creed, ethnicity, or gender.

“Our vision of Nigeria is that of a nation where people live together in peace and harmony, a nation in which no one is oppressed, where every citizen enjoys Allah-given fundamental human rights regardless of class, creed, or ethnicity.

"We remain oppressed until those golden principles of Islamic liberation theology are actualized, namely, freedom of worship for all, emancipation for the oppressed, justice for the persecuted, jobs for the jobless, food for the hungry, healing for the sick, clothing and apparel for the naked, and shelter for the homeless.”.