2027: Field Muslim Candidates If You Want Our Votes in South-West — MURIC Tells Parties

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has advised political parties seeking votes from Muslims in the South-West to field Muslim candidates in the 2027 general elections.

The group specifically urged parties such as the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Social Democratic Party (SDP), and others to present Muslim candidates for governorship positions in Oyo, Lagos, Ekiti, Ogun, and Ondo States.

MURIC warned that parties that fail to field Muslim candidates should not expect electoral support from Muslims in the region.

The position was contained in a statement signed by the organisation’s Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

The group argued that Muslims form a majority in the South-West and insisted that there are qualified Muslim candidates capable of occupying governorship positions in the affected states.

It further noted that the current governors of Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, and Osun States are Christians, describing the situation as political imbalance.

“Although Muslims constitute the majority in Yorubaland, the political leadership space of the region has been hijacked by Yoruba Christians since 2023.

“No single space was left for Yoruba Muslims. Sanwo-Olu seized Lagos, Abiodun commandeered Ogun, Makinde took Oyo by storm while Adeleke wrestled Osun from Isiaka Oyetola.

“It was exclusivity par excellence with Muslims as mere onlookers while our common patrimony was shared behind our backs.

“That was not all. Ekiti and Ondo States succumbed easily to Christian governors. Of course that was not a surprise because Muslims are just between 35 and 40% in those two states.

“In essence, today, the whole of Southern Nigeria, with 17 states, has no single Muslim governor. Yet these are the same people who are spreading the false, fictitious and baseless propaganda of Islamisation of Nigeria,” the statement said.