FREE TRAIN: FG, NRC UNFAIR TO MUSLIMS – DECLARES PROF AKINTOLA, EVEN AS HE WONDERS IF EQUAL RIGHT IS MYTH IN NIGERIA

BY TIMESWATCH

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has accused both the Federal Government (FG) and the Nigerian Railway Corporation of being unfair to Muslims particularly regarding the way and manner free train rides are declared during religious festivals..

MURIC interrogated the gross disparity and astounding imbalance in the manner free train rides are declared for Christmas whereas Salah attracts no such dividend of democracy.

This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday, 5th June, 2025 by the Executive Director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

“A strange scenario is currently playing out in the Nigerian socio-cultural landscape. Whereas the Federal Government (FG) offered free train rides during Christmas (https://www.thecable.ng/just-in-fg-announces-two-weeks-free-train-trips-from-december-20/l), it has maintained a pregnant silence on whether the same handout will be offered during this Salah”.

Interestingly enough, FG also extended the period of free train rides beyond two weeks in the early days of January 2025. (https://nairametrics.com/2024/01/04/fg-extends-free-commuter-train-rides-to-jan-7-2024/).

However, the chairman of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has announced an extension of train services during the Salah period (https://theeagleonline.com.ng/sallah-nrc-adds-extra-trip-to-lagos-ibadan-services/). Yes, extension of train services for which commuters have to pay, not free train ride, is what Nigerian Muslims deserve.

This extension cannot even scratch the surface. Neither is it comparable to the over-pampering luxury of the Christmas period.

*As part of its corporate social responsibility to Nigerians, MURIC has a duty to interrogate the performance of government in this area. We note that there is gross disparity and astounding imbalance in the manner free train rides are declared for Christmas whereas Salah attracts no dividends of democracy.*

We are therefore constrained to ask, ‘Is free train meant for Christians alone? Who is in control of this government? Are Muslims really being carried along? Are we on a wild goose chase?

Just as we learnt in George Orwell’s Animal Farm that ‘All animals are equal but some are more equal than others. Four legs good, two legs better’, FG appears to be drumming it into the ears of Nigerian Muslims that equal rights in Nigeria is an illusion, a myth, a mirage. It appears that all religions are equal in Nigeria, but Christianity is more equal than any other faith.

“We have been politically marginalized, economically shortchanged and socially ostracized. We have a Muslim president in a Muslim-Muslim ticket yet we cannot enjoy the same social infrastructural facility that Christians are given on a platter of gold. We are constrained to ask who is in control of this government? If a Muslim is in control, why are Muslims being treated like lepers?”

We cannot even enjoy simple privileges and common dividends of democracy. Ordinary free train ride which FG begged Christians to take is not even being offered to Muslims. We have been treated like third class citizens in our own country. We have been marooned. We have been orphaned. We have been oppressed.

If this is an oversight, we demand an apology from FG. If it is deliberate and official arrogance and an exhibition of executive impunity, we will assume that government is merely flexing it’s muscles.

We are not unaware of the extensive powers of government which it can decide to wield as it craves. But you can drag a Muslim to the mosque, at dawn, by noon or after sunset to join the congregational Salat but his special prayer point after Salat can only be determined by him.

The lopsidedness of the Nigerian system is becoming more and more glaring by the day making the need for an overhauling of the old asymmetrical colonial heritage more compelling, allbeit through rational and constitutional means. We believe that two wrongs cannot make a right.

We therefore demand a total and categorical overhauling of all religious matters like our weekend system, seasonal holidays, etc that were fixed and skewed pro-Christian by the colonial master. We should have reviewed all these immediately after independence in 1960. This neoimperialist system cannot sustain itself talk less of perpetuating an enduring, just and balanced ecosystem. All neocolonial vestiges must go.

MURIC congratulates Nigerian Muslims on the occasion of the 2025 ‘Id al-Kabir. We charge all followers of the Prophet (SAW) to follow his painstaking patience and exemplary endurance. Despite the fact that neither FG nor NRC has been fair to Muslims, we will hold our peace since we have no iota of doubt that Almighty Allah is forever constant, ever watchful.

#FreeTrain

#ChristmasFreeTrain

#WhitherSalahFreeTrain

#OverhaulNeocolonialHeritage.