The statement reads, “Political contest worldwide has always been between the ruling party and the opposition parties. Presidential debates worldwide have also been organised between the ruling party and the opposition.

“The situation in Nigeria today in which presidential debates are organised among the opposition parties only is therefore untenable. This has become a strategy that the failed, incompetent, and corrupt APC government under Tinubu has been using to further instigate the opposition to attack each other while shielding itself from scrutiny by the Nigerian people.

“HE Atiku Abubakar, as the leader of the coalition of opposition parties and leaders, is left with no other choice than to make his appearance in any presidential debates conditional on the participation of President Bola Tinubu and the APC. There is no hiding place for APC in 2027.

“HE Atiku Abubakar is willing to engage the Nigerian people through interviews, townhall meetings, press conferences, and any other forum of interaction with the people but will not participate in any arrangement that will pit the opposition against itself and give undue advantage to APC.

“HE Atiku Abubakar, therefore, challenges President Bola Tinubu to a national presidential debate which will provide an opportunity for both the ruling party and the opposition parties to address Nigerians on their policies and ways to achieve those policies so that Nigerians can make an informed choice for the 2027 elections.”

The group described the victims as all being Muslims and framed the attacks as an assault on the symbolic heart of Islam in Nigeria.

“If Abuja is Nigeria’s political capital, if Lagos is the country’s economic hub, then Sokoto is the heart of Islamdom in Nigeria,” Akintola wrote in the statement.

“Any attack on Sokoto is deemed by Nigerian Muslims as an attack on Muslims in general.”

The group held the Nigerian Army directly responsible for the security failures in and around the state, and demanded what it called an “iron-clad defence mechanism” in the area.

MURIC also pointed to a recent warning from the Department of State Services (DSS) that terrorists were planning to attack tertiary institutions in Sokoto state, describing it as the moment that pushed the group to act.

“The Defence Minister has reneged on his pledge to stop killings. He has failed the people of Sokoto. He has failed Nigerians,” the statement read.

The group recalled Musa’s own words on assuming office: “I knew that I could not afford to fail myself, fail my nation, fail my family,” and said his conduct in office had contradicted that commitment.

MURIC gave the minister until Monday, August 24, 2026, as the start date of the 14-day countdown, demanding visible and verifiable changes to the security apparatus in and around Sokoto within that window.

The group was explicit that the city must be made, in its words, “impregnable and unassailable,” adding that “no single ant must climb on the Sultan’s skin.”

“The alternative is for the minister to submit his letter of resignation on or before the ultimatum. There is no other option on the table,” the statement concluded.

Efforts were reportedly made to revive him before he was rushed to a hospital in Kabba for medical attention. However, he was said to have died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

The reconciliation meeting came amid ongoing efforts by APC stakeholders in Ijumu to resolve internal disagreements and promote greater unity ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Earlier in August, APC stakeholders in the local government gathered in Iyara, where they endorsed President Bola Tinubu and Governor Usman Ododo for re-election.

The stakeholders also called for unity among party members. However, the earlier gathering was reportedly characterised by disagreements over the leadership of the local government, with Solomon and some other officials said to have walked out of the meeting.