MURIC backs Sultan, warns council risks irrelevance without honesty and genuine dialogue

By Sadiq Abdulfatah

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has applauded the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, for his bold warning that the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) may lose its relevance unless faith leaders embrace honesty, accountability, and genuine dialogue, a stance the group says exposes deep-seated tensions within the body.

The press release reads:

MURIC HAILS SULTAN FOR BOLD STAND ON NIREC

‎The Second Tri-Annual Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), was held in Abuja yesterday, Wednesday 10th December, 2025.

‎At the meeting, the Sultan of Sokoto and Co-Chair of the Council, His Eminence, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, warned that NIREC risks losing its relevance unless faith leaders embrace sincerity, accountability, and genuine dialogue.

‎Reacting to the Sultan’s warning, a faith-based civil liberties organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), commended the Sultan for his frank, truthful and bold declaration. The group added that NIREC has become a mere talk shop, an elephant in the room and a gangrene polluting the religious anatomy of the nation.

‎This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday, 11th December, 2025 by the Executive Director of the human rights body.

‎The statement continues:

‎”The President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs NSCIA) and Sultan of Sokoto who also doubles as the Co-Chair of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, warned yesterday, Wednesday, 10th December, 2025 that NIREC risks losing its relevance unless faith leaders embrace sincerity, accountability, and genuine dialogue.

‎”Quoted verbatim, the Sultan said inter alia, ‘We sit down and say so many good things to one another, knowing God owns everything. Yet, when we go out, away from our comfort zone, we begin to say negative things about one another. Are we really honest with ourselves?” he queried.’

‎”MURIC commends the Sultan for this frank, truthful and bold declaration. In our humble opinion, NIREC has become a mere talk shop, an elephant in the room and a gangrene polluting the religious anatomy of the nation.

‎”Coming from a leader who has always restrained his Muslim followers from reacting spontaneously to provocative utterances and actions from Christian leaders, a leader who has always counseled Muslims on the need for patience, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, there is no scintilla of ambiguity that the Christian membership of the Council has pushed the Sultan to the wall with their insatiable desire for domination in all matters.

‎”We are also certain that the last nail in the coffin of cordiality among members of NIREC was driven in by ongoing maliciously fabricated allegation of Christian genocide which is an indubitable evidence of long-standing malice being nursed by Christians within the Council.

‎”If the Christian members in the Council possess goodwill and genuinely manifest same towards their Muslim members, the reports on the fictitious genocide sent by Nigerian Christians to America could have been tabled first at a NIREC meeting.

‎”For Christian members of NIREC to have authored or supported reports lodged outside the shores of Nigeria particularly to a country that has the capacity to strike with deadly missiles from far away or invade our country and forcefully take our president and his vice to Guantanamo Bay is the highest degree of bad faith, ill will and betrayal.

‎”We doff our hat for the Sultan for having the golden heart to sit at the same table with his Christian colleagues after this humongous treachery. Other leaders would have boycotted the Council meeting.

‎”It beats us hollow that anyone would associate our leader with terrorism. Yet some of the Christian soulless petitions mentioned his name. This Sultan preaches peaceful coexistence 24 hours of the day. He spends a large chunk of his time with Christians within and outside his palace. So, where, when and how did he promote terrorism?

‎”We are shocked to our narrows that while our leader keeps us busy in the day with peace talks and we go to bed at night believing that all was well, our Christian neighbours spent the night holding nocturnal meetings on how to maneuver the media to spread anti-Muslim sentiments and how to engineer the invasion of Nigeria by America. Saul, Saul, why doth thou persecuteth me? (Acts 9:4).

‎”To be or not to be? That is the question. Whether to say to our neighbours, ‘To your camps oh Israel’, or whether to sit down for a heart to heart talk on the way towards amicable settlement of issues within the Council. To agree to disagree, again to disagree to agree, that Nigeria may have peace, that Nigeria may have progress, that Nigeria may have both motion and movement, not motion devoid of movement.”

Source: MURIC