6th December, 2021
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has responded positively to Governor Babatunde Sanwo-Olu’s call for a peace walk.
The group appealed to religious leaders and the youth to join the peace initiative in order to move Lagos forward.
MURIC’s appeal was made on Monday, 6th December 2021 via its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The statement reads:
“Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu recently invited Lagosians to a peace walk. We believe it is an invitation that should be accepted by all lovers of peace and all believers in one God. It is noteworthy that the governor had paid N420 million as compensation for police brutality before announcing the peace initiative. He has stooped to conquer. We should all join the historic march. MURIC will walk for peace with the governor. Lagos must not burn again.
“Besides, Sanwo-Olu is a performing governor. He is not just sitting in his office sipping tea. He is hardworking. He completed about 1,200 projects within two years. Of these, 1,000 are schools while some of the projects are renovative and others brand new construction works. He deserves the support of Lagosians. The brilliant performance of the Lagos State Government during the difficult days of COVID-19 when Lagos was the epicentre of the pandemic in Nigeria calls for massive support for the Sanwo-Olu administration.
“Both the governor and his commissioner for health were actively and physically in the field and the commissioner was infected at a point due to his constant contact with infected Lagosians. They risked their lives to save Lagosians. How do we show gratitude? Today, it is only in Lagos State that primary health delivery centres are active in all the local governments in the state. Lagosians should honour the invitation of such a governor if he invites them.
“MURIC therefore implores Lagosians to troop out en masse for Sanwo-Olu’s peace walk. All lovers of peace should be part of the exercise. All friends of Lagos should participate in the peace walk. In particular, we urge all religious leaders across the divide to join this peace initiative. Religious leaders should not be found among trouble makers. Neither should they incite the populace against the system. This is where they belong.
“The Glorious Qur’an commands Muslims to incline towards peace (8:61). It also describes true believers as servants of Allah ‘who walk humbly on earth’ and whose only response to provocation should be ‘peace’. It says, ‘And the servants of Allah the Most Gracious are those who walk on earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, ‘peace’ (Glorious Qur’an 25:63). It is for this reason that MURIC supports Governor Sanwo-Olu’s call for ‘peace walk’.
“‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God’, so declared the Bible in Mathew 5:9. Anyone who joins the governor on the peace walk is therefore a peacemaker and a lover of peace. We charge Christian leaders and youth to join the governor’s peace walk ‘To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace’” (Luke 1:79). Let us join Governor Sanwo-Olu’s peace walk so that he can ‘guide our feet into the way of peace’.
The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had on November 30th initiated a peace walk as part of efforts to ensure harmony in the state after #EndSARS protest.
The governor called on entertainers Seun Kuti, Folarin Falana popularly known as Falz, Debo Adedayo, popularly known as Mr Macaroni among others to join in the walk.
The governor on Tuesday said he would lead the peace walk.
According to Sanwo-Olu, the peace walk would herald the healing of the land in the face of the misinformation and misunderstanding following the recent leak of a report by the Judicial Panel of Enquiry on the #EndSARS debacle.
The governor had said: “Our state deserves true healing after the disturbances that trailed last year’s protests against police brutality. It is only the sustenance of harmony that can guarantee the realisation of aspirations of all residents.
“The state is currently faced with the hard choice of restoring harmony or doing itself great harm. I appeal to Lagosians to reject those fueling anarchy and suspicion, clinging to the unsubstantiated belief that carries no weight of verifiable evidence and choosing emotion over hard facts.
“Our administration is ready to facilitate better communication between the youths and the state’s security machinery to resolve issues before they become intractable.
“To quicken recovery and engender a better understanding, I will lead ‘A Walk for Peace’ in December to herald the healing of the land.
“I have extended an open invitation to the youths, members of the diplomatic corps, civil society groups, students and the media, as well as other stakeholders to join me in this peace walk”.