As a Muslim, there's something that genuinely bothers me.
Millions of Muslims live in Christian majority countries, build mosques, preach Islam publicly, distribute Qur'ans, open halal businesses, and demand religious freedom,and rightly so.
Some even call for aspects of Shariah to be accommodated in the societies they've moved to.
Yet in some Muslim majority countries, Christians cannot openly preach the Gospel, build churches freely, or practice their faith without restrictions.
Why?
If we demand religious freedom for ourselves, we should be willing to grant it to others.
Truth does not need censorship.
If Islam is the truth, it has nothing to fear from a church, a Bible, or a Christian preacher.
You can't demand tolerance and freedom for Muslims abroad while denying the same freedoms to others at home.
The double standard needs to be called out.
Do you know why Hisbah and political Shariah must never be allowed? This is exactly how the Taliban started.
- They forbade Afghan women from attending high school or university
- They banned them from working in government
- They stopped them from protesting
- They prevented them from traveling abroad
- They forbade them from driving
- They forbade traveling alone
- They stopped them from taking taxis
- They banned speaking in public
- They forbade speaking loudly even at home
- They banned singing
- They forbade reading the Quran aloud in public
- They forbade seeing male doctors
- They banned playing sports
- They stopped them from going to the gym or park
- They forbade wearing bright clothes or high heels
- They forbade looking at men they don’t know
- They banned showing their faces in public
- They forbade owning a smartphone
This is what political Shariah looks like. In the end, it only brings oppression.
Good morning to those whose faith is guided by mercy and reason, not by pride in extremism or harming others in the name of a God who never asked for it.
STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE
President Tinubu commends Nigeria's Armed Forces for protecting democracy in Benin Republic
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has commended the gallantry of Nigeria's military on Sunday for responding swiftly to the request by the Government of Benin Republic to save its 35-year-old democracy from coup plotters who struck at dawn today.
Acting on two separate requests from the Government of Benin, President Tinubu first ordered Nigerian Air Force fighter jets to enter the country and take over the airspace to help dislodge the coup plotters from the National TV and a military camp where they had regrouped.
The Republic of Benin, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a Note Verbal, requested immediate Nigerian air support "in view of the urgency and seriousness of the situation and to safeguard the constitutional order, protect national institutions and ensure the security of the population."
In the second request, the authorities in Benin requested the deployment of Nigerian Air Force assets within Beninoise airspace for surveillance and rapid intervention operations under Benin-led coordination.
The Benin government also requested Nigerian ground forces, "strictly for missions approved by the Beninese Command authority in support of the protection of constitutional institutions and the containment of armed Groups."
Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, said all the requests have been fulfilled, with Nigerian ground forces now in Benin.
"Ours is to comply with the order of the Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces, President Tinubu," he said.
Constitutional order was upended in the Republic of Benin, Nigeria's neighbour, when some soldiers led by Colonel Pascal Tigri announced a coup on Sunday morning. The putschists seized the National TV and claimed they had toppled President Patrice Talon and suspended all democratic institutions.
It took some hours before the government's loyal forces, assisted by Nigeria, took control and flushed out the coup plotters from the National TV.
In his remarks after the restoration of the democratic and constitutional order, President Tinubu saluted the Nigerian armed forces for standing firm as a protector and defender of democracy.
“Today, the Nigerian armed forces stood gallantly as a defender and protector of constitutional order in the Republic of Benin on the invitation of the government. Our armed forces acted within the ambit of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. They have helped stabilise a neighbouring country and have made us proud of their commitment to sustaining our democratic values and ideals since 1999. Nigeria stands firmly with the government and people of the Republic of Benin."
Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President
(Information and Strategy)
December 7, 2025
.