Saturday, 12 November 2016

Donald Trump’s victory: MURIC advises Nigerian Muslims to suspend US trips

Against the background of the emergence of the Republican Party candidate, Donald Trump, as the president-elect of the United States, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has appealed to Nigerian Muslims to suspend planned trips to the US until they know which way the cat will jump.

It also advised immigrant Muslims residing in the US to return to their countries or be prepared for harsh treatments, including increased Islamophobic attacks.

Trump had defeated the Democratic Party candidate, Hillary Clinton, in the presidential election held on Tuesday.

In a statement, on Friday, by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, MURIC said considering Trump’s “Americanisation of virtually everything” and “tortuous isolationism and a pathological obsession with Islamophobia,” his emergence as the next president of the United States had serious implications for Muslims in that country and elsewhere around the world.


“The contemptuous treatment of Muslims travelling in or out of America has long been a matter of serious concern to advocates of free movement and Allah-given fundamental human rights.

“Coupled with this is the horrendous policy of rendition whereby Muslims are kidnapped en route other destinations and forcefully taken to the dreaded Guatemala to face America’s notorious waterboarding and other forms of inhuman treatment.

“The advent of Donald Trump is the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The American president-elect has divided America along racial and religious lines. He threatened to close mosques. He also swore to give Muslims a special data base in order to control terrorism.

“Trump may be an iconoclast but the Americans who voted for him were not deaf. They heard him loud and clear. They heard all his threats. The victory of Trump, particularly coming hot on the heels of Brexit, means that Western democracies are jettisoning globalization for nationalism.

“MURIC respects the wish of Americans to stand by their national interest. We call on Muslims around the world to also respect the wish of the American people to be left alone.

“Nonetheless, we reiterate our avowed rejection of racist and hate speeches. We disown violent groups like Al-Qaidah and ISIS who instigate Muslims to kill Americans and attack American and Western interests.

“We urge Muslims around the world to nurse no malice against Americans over Trump’s victory and the likely fallout. It should be noted that a few Americans support Trump’s weird policies. He won the election via the Electoral College but received fewer votes than Hillary Clinton. The victory of Trump reveals the paradoxical underbelly of the world’s greatest democracy. American minority has had its way”, MURIC’s statement said.