Nigeria’s Muslim human rights group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has demanded unreserved apology from Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural group, comparing Sunday Adeyemo, a.k.a Igboho, to Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
Afenifere had compared Igboho’s current travail in Benin Republic to that of Prophet Muhammad in Madinah.
Sahara Reporters, which published the story, has since taken down the post and apologized to Muslims following protests by many.
In a press release issued by the director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola, the human rights group said Afenifere’s statement was not only sacrilegious but outrageous and audacious. MURIC advised Afenifere to compare Igboho to any of the Yoruba heroes if they must idolise him.
The statement reads:
“Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, has compared Sunday Adeyemo, a.k.a. Igboho, to Prophet Muhammad. This is totally unacceptable. It is not only sacriledgious but outrageous and audacious.
“Afenifere has manifested categorical desertification of discernibility coupled with an alarming height of tramadolised hero-worshipping. It is provocative, preposterous, repugnant and nauseating.
“The circumstances surrounding the migration of Prophet Muhammad in 622 C.E. to Madinah differ a lot from those that sent Igboho to Benin Republic in July 2021. Muhammad was invited to Madinah by the Madinese whereas Igboho was not invited by the people of Cotonou.
“Muhammad was a prophet of God, Igboho is not. Muhammad’s constituency is the whole world while Igboho’s activities are restricted to South Western Nigeria.
“It was therefore an exercise in excessive exaggeration for Afenifere to have compared Igboho to a universal prophet whose followers in their billions spread across all the continents and countries of the world.
“This, to say the least, is an attempt to diminish the immense popularity of Prophet Muhammad, whittle down the influence of Islam on the world as a whole and trivialise the essence of the Abrahamic faiths.”
