By ABDUL HASSAN

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 a 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 trivialize 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 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 the people. Procrastination is the thief of time. Anarchists look for lacuna like this to spread their tales of horror in order to incite the masses against 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 it happens.

“Meanwhile 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 no 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 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 apparels for the naked and shelter for the homeless.” (NAN)

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