The Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC), Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) and Muslim Media Watch Group of Nigeria (MMWGN) have condemned an audio recording circulating on social media, attributed to Mazi Kanayo, which contains calls for violence against Igbo Muslims.
The three groups, in separate press statements, therefore called on security agencies to step in with a view to bringing the culprit(s) to book.
MPAC, in a statement signed by its Executive Chairman, Disu Kamor, said “The audio – widely disseminated following its translation and circulation on TikTok by a user identified as @ugochukwubesira – allegedly urges members of the Igbo ethnic group to wage war against fellow Igbos who practise Islam. It reportedly advocates their abduction, brutalization, and elimination, while falsely accusing them of abandoning their faith for material gain. These claims are not only defamatory and malicious but dangerously incendiary.
”MPAC states without equivocation that such utterances amount to hate speech of the most extreme kind and constitute a direct incitement to violence, criminality, and mass human rights violations. They pose a clear and present danger to public safety and strike at the very heart of Nigeria’s constitutional guarantees of life, dignity, freedom of religion, and peaceful coexistence.”
On its part, MURIC in a statement by Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Founder/Executive Director said “MURIC therefore calls on the security agencies, particularly men of the Department of State services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police to arrest, detain and prosecute Maazi Kanayo. Every minute counts as the lives of thousands of people hangs in the balance.”
MMWGN spoke in a similar vein a statement by its National Publicity Secretary – Dr. Yusuf Agbabiaka.
According to the group, the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution that guarantees freedom of worship and freedom to change one’s religion, must be upheld.
See the three press statements below:
MPAC STRONGLY CONDEMNS INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE AGAINST IGBO MUSLIMS, DEMANDS IMMEDIATE LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTION
Lagos, Wednesday, 31/12/2025
The Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC) Nigeria is deeply disturbed and unequivocally condemns the alarming audio recording circulating on social media, attributed to Mazi Kanayo, which contains explicit and inflammatory calls for violence against Igbo Muslims.
The audio – widely disseminated following its translation and circulation on TikTok by a user identified as @ugochukwubesira – allegedly urges members of the Igbo ethnic group to wage war against fellow Igbos who practise Islam. It reportedly advocates their abduction, brutalization, and elimination, while falsely accusing them of abandoning their faith for material gain. These claims are not only defamatory and malicious but dangerously incendiary.
MPAC states without equivocation that such utterances amount to hate speech of the most extreme kind and constitute a direct incitement to violence, criminality, and mass human rights violations. They pose a clear and present danger to public safety and strike at the very heart of Nigeria’s constitutional guarantees of life, dignity, freedom of religion, and peaceful coexistence.
We are particularly troubled by the explicit and targeted nature of the threats contained in this audio. History – both within and beyond our borders – has repeatedly demonstrated that genocidal rhetoric does not begin with violence; it begins with words left unchecked, unchallenged, and unpunished.
Nigeria is a plural and multi-faith society bound together by law, citizenship, and shared humanity. Igbo Muslims are an inseparable part of the Igbo nation and the Nigerian state. Any attempt to erase their identity, delegitimize their faith, or incite violence against them is an assault on justice, national unity, and the moral foundations of our republic.
MPAC therefore unequivocally calls on:
- The Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services (DSS), and all relevant security agencies to immediately investigate the origin, authenticity, and circulation of this audio, and to ensure that all individuals responsible – directly or indirectly – are identified and prosecuted in accordance with the law.
- Security and intelligence agencies to address the nation on this grave national security concern and take proactive preventive measures to forestall any escalation and to guarantee the safety of Igbo Muslims and all communities potentially placed at risk by this rhetoric.
- Regulatory authorities and social media platforms to discharge their responsibilities by swiftly curbing the spread of content that promotes hatred, incites violence, or threatens communal harmony.
- Political leaders, community leaders, traditional rulers, religious authorities, and opinion shapers, particularly in the South-East, to publicly and unequivocally denounce this call to violence and reaffirm their commitment to peaceful coexistence, restraint, and mutual respect.
MPAC stresses that freedom of expression is not a license to incite murder, ethnic cleansing, or religious persecution. Silence or indifference in the face of such threats only emboldens extremists and accelerates the descent into lawlessness.
We urge Nigerians of conscience to reject divisive narratives and resist every attempt to weaponize ethnicity or religion against fellow citizens. The security of one group is inseparable from the security of all.
MPAC remains steadfast in its commitment to justice, the rule of law, and the protection of fundamental human rights. We will continue to engage relevant authorities and closely monitor developments to ensure that this dangerous rhetoric is confronted decisively – before words translate into irreversible tragedy.
Disu Kamor
Executive Chairman
Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC), Nigeria
kamor.disu@mpac-ng.org
www.mpac-ng.org
MUSLIM RIGHTS CONCERN (MURIC)
هيئة حقوق المسلمين
Motto: Dialogue, Not Violence
31st December, 2025
PRESS RELEASE:
ARREST MAAZI KANAYO FOR INCITING IGBOS TO KILL ALL IGBO MUSLIMS – MURIC
A faith-based human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called for the arrest and prosecution of one Maazi Kanayo for inciting the Igbo people of South Eastern Nigeria to kidnap Igbo Muslims and bury them alive.
The call was made in a statement issued on Wednesday, 31st December, 2025 by the Executive Director of the organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The statement reads:
”We are in possession of a viral video clip in which the audio message of one Maazi Kanayo was aired. In the audio, Maazi Kanayo incited the Igbo people of South Eastern Nigeria to kidnap Igbo Muslims and bury them alive (https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSHERCgnkQAaJ-qwbJx/ This post is shared via TikTok Lite. Download TikTok Lite to enjoy more posts: https://www.tiktok.com/tiktoklite
Igbo Muslims are being threatened with death for embracing Islam: how can we rise to their aid).
“Maazi Kanayo specifically directed his potential kidnappers and killers to target Muslims of Igbo extraction living in Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo States. This is the last thing Nigeria needs at a time when the whole country faces serious insecurity.
”This is an extremely dangerous dimension as the audio puts the lives of thousands of Igbo Muslims on the line. Some Igbo Muslims are traditional rulers in their communities and this implies the likelihood of communal turbulence in the South East.
“MURIC therefore calls on the security agencies, particularly men of the Department of State services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police to arrest, detain and prosecute Maazi Kanayo. Every minute counts as the lives of thousands of people hangs in the balance.”
#DSS
#NigeriaPolice
#PlotToKillIgboMuslims
#NoToMuslimGenocide
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Founder/Executive Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC).
PRESS STATEMENT
MEDIA GROUP RAISES SECURITY ALARM OVER THREAT TO THE LIVES OF IGBO MUSLIMS IN THE SOUTH EAST OF NIGERIA
A Non-Governmental Organization – the Muslim Media Watch Group of Nigeria has raised security alarm over an audio circulating on the social media over a week now, released by an Igbo citizen threatening the lives of all Igbo Muslims in the South Eastern parts of Nigeria in particular and Nigeria as a whole.
A Press Statement issued today by the Group and signed by its National Publicity Secretary – Dr. Yusuf Agbabiaka, the Group challenged the Security Agencies in Nigeria especially the Nigeria Police, the Department of Security Services [DSS] the Nigerian Security & Civil Defence Corps [NSCDC] and the Military Intelligence for not updating the citizens of this Country on what they have done to prevent the security threat to lives all the citizens of this Country as regards the circulating audio clips.
The broadcast of terror released by one Maazi Kanayo who introduced himself as the Speaker in the audio clips, gave a ‘matching order’ to all Igbo citizens to kill any Igbo Muslim they found. He even dictated the way he wanted them killed.
In the dangerous viral audio, circulating on the social media, Maazi Kanayo described Igbo muslims as agents of Fulani herders who took money from them to become muslims…
He then ordered that any Igbo muslim found should not be killed outrightly but should be kidnapped and that big hole should be digged and bury him or her alive; as they did to Fulani herders in their territories [I.e. Igboland] in the past….
The Muslim Media Watch Group of Nigeria decribed the the circulating audio in the social media across the Country as criminal, inhuman and sacrilegious calling for immediate arrest and urgent prosecution of the broadcaster – Maazi Kanayo who want to set Nigeria ablaze with his religious and ethnic cleansing agenda capable of being bloodier than the last civil war in Nigeria.
The Group expressed no surprise why the Nation has been battling with insecurity for the past sixteen years stating that all sort of criminalities such as terrorism, insurgency, kidnapping and abduction for ransome payment, unknown gunmen attacks and banditry to mention a few graduated to higher proportional levels due to neglect and failures of our Security Agencies who have always failed to nip-in-the-bud early the emerging trend to insecurity in Nigeria.
The Group maintained that ideally, any of the Security Agencies mentioned in this Press Statement ought to have addressed the Nation that they have arrested Maazi Kanayo and how soon he would appear in court for threat to the lives of his Igbo brethren who are Muslims.
The Nation’s Constitution that guarantees freedom of worship and freedom to change one’s religion is not an error, the Group maintained.
Meanwhile, history testified to the fact that Islam as a religion has been practised in igboland for the past 100 years or more, what madness could have made someone to call on his own people to eliminate part of them because of religion?.the Group queried
MMWG, therefore called on the Inspector-General of Police, the Directors-General of DSS and NSCDC to brief the Nation on the whereabout of Maazi Kanayo who want to set the Nation on fire because of his tribal and religious fanaticism…
A stich in time, will save millions, the Group concluded.
E-signed
Dr. Yusuf Agbabiaka
National Publicity Secretary