The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) said it has intervened in another blasphemy saga, this time in Borno State where another lady, Naomi Goni, a student of Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri, was alleged to have insulted the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, POLITICS NIGERIA reports.
The Islamic human rights organization urged Muslims in Borno state to allow the police to handle the matter.
This was revealed in a statement issued on Sunday evening by Professor Ishaq Akintola, director of MURIC, obtained by this news medium.
His statement reads in part: “One Abdulmajid Tanko Izge who is leading the allegation against her said in his post, ‘There is a girl named Naomi Goni who insulted the Messenger of Allah (saw) and in Islam it is a death sentence even if it is a Muslim. We therefore call on the Borno State Government to take immediate action or else we Muslims will not sleep and we will take action’.
“But neither Tanko’s message nor others that have been posted has revealed the actual blasphemous statement. Her accusers should therefore tell Nigerians the actual statement made by her which they consider blasphemous.
“In fact the lady herself has refuted the allegation. She said her phone was hacked by someone since last year. That casts a shadow of doubt on the allegation. It also makes her case different as she might not have been the author of the post.
“Tanko’s blanket statement that ‘in Islam it is a death sentence even if it is a Muslim’ also calls for concern among Shari’ah experts as he did not differentiate between an offence committed by a Muslim and another committed by a Christian.
“It is well known in Shariah circles in Nigeria that a Christian cannot be taken to a Shariah court unless he or she expressly opts for it. Christians can only be charged to the conventional court (common law court). That is why Muslims of Borno State must allow the police to handle the case of Naomi Goni.
“Muslims must stop issuing death threats concerning this case because that creates the impression that we are living in a lawless society and that we have no respect for the rule of law.”
The article was originally published on Politics Nigeria.
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