RENO OMOKRI ON FREE FRIDAY: WE ARE VINDICATED – MURIC

2^nd September, 2025

PRESS RELEASE:

RENO OMOKRI ON FREE FRIDAY: WE ARE VINDICATED – MURIC

A former presidential aide, Mr. Reno Omokri, recently shocked Nigerians when he openly asserted that Muslims in the country were being cheated as they are denied work-free Fridays while their Christian counterparts had the whole of Saturday and Sunday free.

Reacting to the statement which went viral, an Islamic civil liberties organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has described Mr. Omokri as one of the most intellectually active, politically detribalised and religiously liberal Christians in Nigeria.

The group said Mr. Omokri’s declaration on the need for work-free Friday has vindicated its stand since 1994. It therefore called on the various governments at both federal and state levels, particularly in the Muslim dominated North, to put an end to the oppression of Muslims by declaring Friday work-free.

The statement continued:

“A former presidential aide, Mr. Reno Omokri, recently made headlines when he openly asserted that Muslims in the country were being cheated as they were denied work-free Fridays while their Christian counterparts had the whole of Saturday and Sunday free (https://tribuneonlineng.com/muslims-working-on-fridays-is-unfair-while-sunday-is-work-free-reno-omokri/).  

“We know Mr. Reno Omokri is a patriot nulli secundus and a progressive Nigerian. He is also, indubitably, one of the most intellectually active, politically detribalised and religiously liberal Christians in Nigeria.

“Mr. Omokri’s declaration on the need for work-free Friday has vindicated our stand since 1994 when our organization (MURIC) was established. We have been demanding work-free Fridays for the past 31 years using every peaceful and legitimate means available.

“The Founder and Executive Director of MURIC went as far as writing a book on the subject-matter. The book, a 138-page affair captioned ‘The Friday Question’, (At-Tawheed Publications, Lagos, 1993; second edition 2021) was launched at the Ansar-ud-deen Hall, Surulere, Lagos in 1994 under the chairmanship of the former secretary general of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), the late Dr. Lateef Adegbite.

“MURIC has been called several unprintable names for demanding work-free Friday while its leader has been falsely labelled an extremist, a religious fanatic, a fundamentalist, a terrorist, etc all because he is an advocate of civil liberty for Nigerian Muslims. But the truth has come to the open through a most unexpected source, through a Christian social crusader.

“Mr. Reno Omokri is a household name in Nigeria today. He is known for his bold and objective pronouncements regardless whose ox is gored. This man will not delve into the Friday question if there was no merit in it.

“We hail Reno Omokri for speaking up in this manner. It is not his first time of revealing the truth on issues that are wrongly understood in this country. Reno Omokri is definitely one of the few Christian presidential materials. He is a guiding light, a president-in-waiting.

“The only difference between our advocacy for work-free Friday and that of Reno Omokri is that the latter wants work to stop by 12 noon on Friday while we are calling for the whole Friday to be work-free.

“The book, ‘The Friday Question’, dedicated a whole chapter to the logistics (pages 54 – 70 second edition, 2021). Six options ‘A’ to ‘F’ were put forward but option ‘C’ was picked as the most viable (pages 61 – 63).

“Option ‘C’ posits a thesis of a 3-day weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) with the suggestion that the eight hours lost on Friday can be made up for by adding two extra hours daily from Monday to Thursday. In which case workers may resume by 8 am and close by 6 pm or work from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm.

“Unknown to those who oppose the idea of a work-free Friday, including the federal and state governments, a work-free Friday will create an enlightened Muslim population. Nigerian Muslims will be able to learn more about their faith. Nigeria stands to gain a lot from this. For instance, it will reduce incidents of spontaneous violence among Muslims who react to perceived blasphemous statements.

“Nigerian Christians learn a lot about their faith on Sundays because Sundays are work-free’. On the contrary, Nigerian Muslims are shut up in a cage of ignorance every Friday morning only to be scattered like wild oats on Friday afternoon because they have to go to work in the morning, take permission to attend mosque for one hour in the afternoon around 1 pm and still return to work by 3 pm.

“Interestingly, while Christian families go to church together on Sundays, Muslim families are scattered from workplaces to schools. The Muslim husband cannot attend the same mosque with his wife as they both work in different places. Neither can the Muslim father take his children to the same mosque because the father is at work while the children are in their various schools. Muslim families are therefore ‘scattered’ by the present system while Christian families are united.

“The impact on Muslim children has now become very obvious. Many of them become half-baked Muslims. Unfortunately some of such half-baked Muslims become leaders in later life and this reflects in their lackadaisical approach to religious issues. People can only give what they have.

“Our experience over the years have revealed that the absence of work-free Friday is at the root of the existence of a subconscious Muslim population in the country, particularly the South West. On the contrary, the vibrancy of the Christians in the same region can be attributed to what they learn in church on their work-free Sundays.

“While religious radicalism, Boko Haram and banditry in the North can be traced to poverty and the wide gap between the rich and the poor in that region, area boys syndrome and ‘agbero’ mentality which are common among Muslim youths in the South can be attributed to the lack of proper Islamic enlightenment due to the absence of work-free Friday.

“We are saying, in essence, that Nigerians who have been opposing work-free Friday have been cutting their noses to spite their faces. In other words, they have been hurting themselves without knowing.

“A well-informed Muslim and Christian populace will benefit all. Ignorance is a disease. Whereas religion is expected to free mankind from evil acts, it has been the other way round for us in Nigeria where we practice acrobatic religiousity.

“The average Muslim insists on going on pilgrimage every year causing tremendous drain on the country’s scarce foreign exchange while the average Christian must go annually to Jerusalem. Meanwhile pilgrimage to Makka is only conditionally required once in a lifetime while there is no biblical injunction that makes pilgrimage to Jerusalem mandatory.

“We became enemies and rivals unto ourselves for no just cause. We cause untold suffering to perceived religious opposition groups. Nay, we do everything possible to delay the progress of the other camp. But worse still, we ambush ourselves, kill, maim, burn and destroy. Yet all is based on NAFDAC-registered ignorance.

“We therefore call on the various governments at both federal and state levels, particularly in the Muslim dominated North, to put an end to the oppression of Muslims by declaring Friday work-free.

“We recommend option ‘C’ as in the ‘Friday Question’ book for states willing to experiment work-free Friday. In this option, workers may resume by 8 am and close by 6 pm from Monday to Thursday, or work from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm.”

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Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Founder/Executive Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)