2027 Election: MURIC Engages Atiku, Releases Full Details
- A prominent Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has engaged Atiku Abubakar to address Nigerian Muslims' rights before the 2027 elections
- MURIC raised concerns over the alleged systemic neglect of Muslim rights under successive governments in Nigeria
- The Professor Ishaq Akintola-led group called for equal rights for Muslims and Christians across the country
Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering politics, elections, public affairs and governance in Nigeria and Africa.
Iba, Lagos State - Ahead of the 2027 elections, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) announced on Thursday, January 8, 2026, that it has engaged presidential hopeful and African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain Atiku Abubakar.
According to a statement by its executive director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, obtained by Legit.ng, MURIC alleged that Nigeria has been structured along Christian cultural lines since the colonial era. The group highlighted several civil rights it claims have been denied to Muslims by successive governments and argued that many Muslim politicians and leaders are either unaware of these issues or easily pressured through blackmail and harassment.
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Source: Twitter
MURIC engages Atiku over Muslim rights
MURIC said "the major reason for taking this step is our discovery that the condition of Muslims has remained the same under both Muslim and Christian leaders, despite demands and agitations."
In light of this, MURIC said it seeks to know whether Atiku, as a Muslim, is prepared to address these issues objectively and systematically. The engagement, the group added, was conducted via an open communication channel on Thursday, January 8, 2026, directly addressed to Atiku, former Vice President of Nigeria and the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate.
The full details of the engagement can be read below:
Your Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, As-Salaam Alaikunm sir, We of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) celebrate you as the most resilient and highly consistent politician in Nigeria today. You have fought for a cause in which you strongly believe and have exhibited immense strength of character in its pursuit over the years. Your efforts are monumental, laudable and cerebral. Whether your critics like it or not, your name will be written in letters of gold in the annals of Nigerian history.
As a Muslim steering his political ship towards the 2027 coast, we find it mandatory to engage you in dialogue concerning the current plight of Nigerian Muslims and their hopes and aspirations in a just, united and democratic Nigeria. The major reason for taking this step is our discovery that the condition of Muslims has remained the same under both Muslim and Christian leaders, despite demands and agitations.
We note with great pain that many Muslim politicians and leaders are either unaware of this predicament or are easily pressured through blackmail and harassment by those who seek to keep Muslims in neocolonial administrative and economic bondage.
Nigeria, since the colonial days, had been structured along Christian culture. Several Allah-given civil liberties are denied Muslims as Christian colonial heritage is hypothetically accepted as the norm.
Sadly, however, successive Nigerian governments, including those led by Muslims, have also ignored the demands of Muslims. We do not want Your Excellency to fall into this category because you have always been a friend of MURIC.
We strongly believe that even the past and present Muslim leaders who ignored the plights of Muslims are not to blame because they are products of an anti-Muslim system structured after Christian values in all aspects of life. Though Muslims by name, such Muslim leaders have been programmed to embrace Christian ways of life and to reject anything else, including the Islamic norms which have the capacity to set enslaved Muslims free. They have been conditioned to see such ideas as extremist frivolities or, at best, possessing nuisance values only. Afterall, people can only give what they have. The whole issue revolves around the question of restructuring as it affects Nigerian Muslims. That is the crux of the matter.
We as a group will never ask any Muslim leader to deprive Christians of their rights. What we are after is a kind of restructuring that will give justice to both Muslims and Christians. Just as we told His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi, a few days ago, our demands are encapsulated in these three areas: proportionate representation, equal rights and freedom of religion. There is no gainsaying the fact that Muslims have a significant percentage of the Nigerian population.
We also possess qualified men and women, persons of pedigree and people of unquestionable integrity. We will therefore expect adequate and meaningful inclusion in appointments.
Source: Facebook
In the same vein, we wish to bring to your attention certain issues bordering on equal rights and parity. These are things that Nigerian Christians are enjoying but which are denied Muslims. Yet Muslim leaders see such things as unworthy of attention. Examples are our demand for the declaration of the first day of the Islamic New Year as a public holiday like 1st January of every year and the Friday Question. We will like to know your position on these and such matters.
We want to know if, as a Muslim, you are prepared to approach the issues clinically and objectively. You may choose to respond through the media as we have done. However, we are open to invitation for dialogue if you so prefer. Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurance of our highest esteem.
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- 2027 election: Peter Obi predicted to align with Tinubu, "he will never agree to work with the coalition"
Atiku takes swipe at Tinubu
Legit.ng earlier reported that Atiku said that over two years after taking the reins, there is no sign that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can address the prevailing hunger and poverty in the country.
The opposition leader, who described the hunger in the country as unacceptable, especially for the underprivileged poor and downtrodden, asserted that “most violent socio-political eruptions and revolutions all over the world had often been powered by pervasive hunger and unbearable material conditions – especially the paradox of squalor amidst plenty in our land.”
Source: Legit.ng
