According to Sahara Reporters, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has hailed a recent judgment in which Justice Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos dismissed a case brought by Chief Malcolm Emokiniovo Omirhobo, challenging the inclusion of Arabic inscriptions on the nation’s currency notes, the Naira. The organization described the judgment as “far-reaching, profound, didactic, and monumental.”
This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Executive Director of MURIC, Prof. Ishaq Akintola.
The organization expressed its satisfaction with the outcome, adding that the case, which it said has finally been put the controversy to bed.
The statement read in part: “This is sweet victory. Once again, the Nigerian judiciary has demonstrated courage, intellectual excellence and jurisprudential exactitude. This judgement is far-reaching, profound, didactic and monumental.
Muslim-haters always oppose anything that has to do with Islam or Muslims.
It further stated that the dismissal of the case has proved that Muslims and Christians jointly own the nation and no one can force Nigerian Muslims from their fatherland, adding that even Muslims can’t wish away Christians.
The statement continued:
“We must tolerate one another. We reject a situation in which some people will seek to expel Muslims, persecute them or turn them into underdogs and second-class citizens. Nigeria is for all of us. Neither shall we oppress people of other faiths.”
Meanwhile, in dismissing the case, the judge cited the precedent set in Chief Gani Fawehinmi vs Akilu (1998), and held that even though Omirhobo had the standing to bring the action, he failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had alterior motives in including the Arabic inscriptions in the design, issuance, printing, and distribution of the naira notes.
Omirhobo, who shared the outcome of the case in a post via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, stated that the court, however, noted that it was expedient for the federal government and the CBN to remove the Arabic inscriptions on the currency notes in the interest of peace and harmony, especially because the language is not a Nigerian language.
The court, according to him, added that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation with no one ethnic group or religion superior to another….Viêw _More
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