WAEC SHOULD NOT USE GHANA AS EXCUSE

20^th March, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

WAEC SHOULD NOT USE GHANA AS EXCUSE  

The Director of Public Affairs, West African Examination Council (WAEC)

 Nigeria, Demianus Ojijeogu yesterday argued that Electronics and Social Studies, which the examination body fixed for the Jumat period on Fridays are not for Nigeria but Ghana.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) contends that this argument is escapist, lame and therefore untenable. It is a weak after-thought and a poorly presented case of divide et impera.

Is WAEC telling us that there are no Muslims in Ghana? As a regional examination body, WAEC is not expected to isolate any minority for persecution. But this is what WAEC is doing. Using Ghana as an excuse has just exposed WAEC.

WAEC just shot itself in the foot! Does WAEC expect MURIC to keep quiet when Muslim candidates in Ghana are being oppressed? For the avoidance of doubts, Ghana’s population which was 28.21 million as at 2016 has 25% as Muslims. Christians are 41% while traditionalists are 23%. Others are 9%.

WAEC has just confirmed that it has been depriving the 25% Muslim population in Ghana of its Allah-given fundamental human rights. The Muslim candidates are forced to write examination during Jumat period because nobody will fight for them.

MURIC condemns WAEC’s attempt to use divide and rule tactics. The Muslim candidates in Ghana are Muslims and we will resist any attempt by WAEC, or anyone for that matter, to isolate them for persecution. We do not see them as Ghanaians. We only see them as Muslims.

WAEC should know that Muslims all over the world are one indivisible entity. We observe the same five daily prayers at the same time. We face the same Qiblah when praying. We have one and the same Qur’an. We all recognize only one Ka’abah. Islam knows no local government, state, geo-political, national or regional boundaries. That is why the Qur’an says, “Verily indeed this your community is one and I am your Lord, therefore worship Me” (Qur’an 23:52).

Furthermore, information technology has reduced the world to a global village.  This makes it difficult for any tyrant to operate freely for too long. WAEC should note that like people of other faiths, Muslims also network and today there are Muslim groups in social media with membership spreading across Uganda, Ghana, Liberia, and to Europe and other continents. Just like the golden fish, therefore, WAEC should realize that it has no hiding place. The game is up.

MURIC asserts clearly, emphatically and unequivocally that it is on a mission to liberate. Just as the Qur’an declares that the world’s Muslim Ummah is one so is our constituency global. We are therefore committed to the liberation of Muslims and all other oppressed people in any part of the world. Neither is our intellectual jihad restricted to the emancipation of Muslims alone. It extends to people of all faiths. 

Our vision of Nigeria is that of a nation where Muslims, Christians and Traditionalists live together in peace and harmony, a nation in which no one is oppressed on account of faith, class or ethnicity. We are middle-roaders and socio-intellectual jihadists fighting corruption and extravagance, seeking freedom of worship for all, emancipation for the oppressed, justice for the persecuted, food for the hungry, healing for the sick, clothing apparels for the naked and shelter for the homeless. 

In our concluding remarks, we charge WAEC to always look at the bigger picture, to think out of the box and to open its windows wide in order to accommodate candidates of all faiths without any discrimination. We urge the regional examination body to shun any situation capable of igniting crisis in the forthcoming June/July 2018 examination. WAEC is therefore advised to properly adjust its timetable now since its examination is expected to start in two weeks (from Tuesday 3^rd April, 2018).

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

WAEC IS CONFUSED

19^th March, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

WAEC IS CONFUSED

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) recently scheduled Chemistry for 2 pm to 4 pm on Friday 20^th April, 2018. Muslims all over the world attend Jumat prayer in their mosques from 1 – 2.30 pm on Fridays. As a rule, therefore, educational institutions and offices leave a two-hour window (from 1 to 3 pm) for the Muslims to worship. WAEC examination is expected to start from Tuesday 3^rd April to Tuesday 15^th May, 2018.

In the face of a barrage of criticisms from Islamic organizations including the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), WAEC modified its invidious timetable. Chemistry, which was earlier fixed for 2 – 4 pm on Friday 20^th April, 2018 was moved backwards to Tuesday 10^th April, 2018. Ceramics (Essay) and Forestry (Essay) will now be held on Friday 20^th April, 2018 from 2 pm to 4 pm.

Reports that WAEC has amended this timetable could not be confirmed by us because the information was not on WAEC’s website when we checked to confirm. Only Premium Times, a leading online newspaper and a student information portal (http://studentinfoportal.com/education-news/waec-adjusts-wassce-timetable-to-enable-muslims-observe-jumaat/. It claimed that the Director of Public Affairs, WAEC Nigeria, Mr. Demianus Ojijeogu has confirmed the slight amendment.

Mr Ojijeogu was quoted as saying, “For the sake of the people who will go to the mosque, the exam will be delayed till they come back”. According to him, “the paper will be delayed till 2:30 pm or 3 pm, when the Muslims will return from the mosque.”

This is not a categorical statement. It is not convincing enough. It leaves Muslim candidates at the mercy of WAEC’s ad hoc staff, invigilators and supervisors, some of whom can be overzealous Muslim-haters.  WAEC needs to withdraw its first offensive timetable, issue a press statement and follow this up with the publication of an amended timetable.

Even if it is true, this amendment still needs clarification from WAEC. For instance, we need to know whether or not some Muslim candidates take these two subjects (Ceramics and Forestry). Yet this may not be the end of our inquiry even if no Muslim candidate has registered for the subjects this year because some Muslim candidates are likely to show interest in them in the near future.

The ideal thing for WAEC to do, therefore, is to steer clear completely from scheduling any examination during the Jumat period. There is no need to stereotype Muslims and the subjects they are likely to take. Knowledge is a universal thing and candidates are not likely to consider religion as a factor when choosing their subjects. 

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) was shocked by the first timetable released by WAEC. It was unfair, tyrannical and provocative. It was equally myopic, thoughtless and parochial. This ‘amended’ version presupposes that WAEC is confused.

We were shocked because issues like this had been trashed out with WAEC before. For WAEC to have tried this again, we strongly suspect that the regional examination body is suffering from chronic administrative amnesia.

WAEC appears confused because there are three other clashes on the ‘amended’ timetable which WAEC did not address at all. Social Studies (Objective) is slated for 1 – 1.50 pm on Friday 4^th May, 2018 while Electronics (Objective) is also billed to take place between 1 and 3 pm on Friday 11^th May, 2018. Woodwork is equally scheduled for the same day from 12 – 3 pm. So how do we reconcile all these? WAEC is out to slay Muslim candidates.

Placed pari passu with the ‘amended’ timetable, it is clear that WAEC’s spokesperson seeks to deceive Muslim candidates. He is leading them into a trap. If indeed the timetable has been amended and Chemistry has been moved to morning period on Tuesday 10^th April, 2018, why would there be any need for “the exam would be delayed till they come back” since it would no longer be taken on a Friday.

WAEC spokesperson also spoke of the paper being delayed till “…2.30 pm or 3 pm”. This is supposed to be a policy matter. Is he not so sure? Which one should WAEC ad hoc officials operate? 2.30 pm deadline or 3 pm? WAEC is speaking from both sides of its mouth. 

We recall our press statement dated 26^th August, 2015 under the caption “WAEC Examination Timetable is an Invitation to Chaos”. That press statement was issued three years ago when WAEC fixed three different subjects between the hours of 1pm and 3 pm on three consecutive Fridays running from 11^th, 18^th, and 25^th September of that year. MURIC cried foul and WAEC later adjusted its timetable.

So what has changed since then? Does WAEC intend to bring examination materials to its Muslim candidates in the mosque? Is WAEC asking Muslim candidates to choose between worshipping and their examination just as some religious bigots told Muslim students in the past? Is this not an attempt by WAEC to jeopardize the interest and future of Muslim candidates? Is this also not a deliberate attempt to ease out Muslims from vital degree courses like medicine, pharmacy, nursing, etc?

Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence but the third time is enemy action. The 2015 incident was not the first time. Is WAEC targeting Muslim candidates for destabilization? It appears the only language WAEC understands is force. Although Muslims will not resort to the use of force, we will resist WAEC’s illegal, unlawful, illegitimate and unconstitutional manipulation of its timetable to deprive Muslim candidates of their Allah-given fundamental right to worship as enshrined in Section 38 (i) & (ii) of the 2011 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. Any WAEC timetable which trespasses into the Jumat period (12 – 3 pm on Friday) is therefore ultra vires, null and void.

By this press statement, we are notifying the Federal Ministry of Education of the volatile nature of WAEC’s timetable. It is capable of causing a disturbance of public peace if it erodes the Jumat period. Nigeria has witnessed enough religious riots and the Ministry must call WAEC to order.

WAEC’s regional status notwithstanding, the Ministry of Education owes it a duty to ensure that no educational exercise capable of stirring civil disturbance is allowed to take place under its watch. The Ministry of Education should have an input in an exercise of this magnitude. In view of the fact that WAEC keeps repeating the same irritating and illegal time table year after year, we suggest that from now on, WAEC time tables should be scrutinized by the ministry of education to ensure that nothing unlawful creeps into it.

Muslim candidates and their parents will be left with no choice than to mobilize to WAEC examination centers in peaceful protest if this complaint is ignored.

We demand a WAEC timetable that leaves the 12 – 3 pm window which Muslims need for Jumat service untouched. An ideal examination timetable for Friday will therefore be 9 am to 12 noon and 3.30 – 6 pm. In fact, heaven will not fall if examinations are limited to morning period on Fridays.

The WAEC timetable imbroglio has once again brought the Friday Question to focus. We have no iota of doubt that WAEC will have no audacity to fix an examination during the Jumat period if Friday is free like Sunday. Or should we simply ask WAEC to fix one subject for the Jumat period and another one on Sunday morning from 9 am to 12 noon, at least for parity? How does that sound? Who feels it knows it. WAEC should stop oppressing Muslims. All we are saying is: Give Us Jumat period. Respect Allah, our Creator, even if you don’t respect us.

WAEC is pursuing an aggressive anti-Islam policy. Fixing examinations during Jumat service gives non-Muslims undue advantage over Muslims. This is discriminatory and unjust. WAEC has lost its soul.

To round up, we charge the Federal Ministry of Education to call WAEC to order. We advise WAEC authorities to consult widely when fixing its timetable because no public institution is an island, entire of itself. WAEC should note that the Jumat period (12 – 3 pm) is not negotiable for any subject. We urge Muslims to remain calm, to eschew violence but to be alert and watchful. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

FAILED PUBLIC HEARING: MURIC SUSPECTS FOUL PLAY

15^th March, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

FAILED PUBLIC HEARING: MURIC SUSPECTS FOUL PLAY

The public hearing organized by the House Committee on Judiciary and Justice failed to hold for the second time yesterday, Wednesday 14^th March, 2018. Although several Muslim groups appeared for the purported hearing, they were disappointed as the chairman of the committee, Hon. Razaq Atunwa, explained that an interlocutory injunction seeking to stop the hearing had been served on the committee.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) condemns this development. Apart from being highly provocative, it is saddening, nauseating and appalling. It is an attempt to manipulate the course of justice, a rape of democracy and a travesty of justice. But above all, it is an attempt to make a mockery of the legislature.

It will be recalled that the same committee had slated the hearing for Tuesday, 6^th February, 2018 but even this first hearing was halted few hours to the event because, according to the committee chairman, “The body of Benchers was to deliberate on the matter on 8^th February”.

MURIC strongly denounces this delay tactics. Justice delayed is justice denied. The authors of the injunction are up to sinister objectives. They want to gag Muslims from airing their own side of the story. They know that the Law School has erred by depriving Firdaus Amasa her right to call to bar just because she refused to remove her hijab.

The decision of the committee to call off yesterday’s public hearing makes a mockery of the principle of the separation of power. It is another colossal waste of resources and manpower. The committee places advertisements each time a date is fixed for this public hearing but ends up doing nothing.

Is this not a hocus pocus? Several stakeholders travelled to Abuja from distant places like Port Harcourt, Kano, Lagos, Maiduguri, etc. They had to arrive since Tuesday in order to attend the 10 am public hearing. They wasted money on air tickets and hotel accommodation. They also wasted man-hour that could otherwise have been used on other productive ventures and not phantom public hearings.

Getting to the venue per se was another Herculean task as we had a running battle with National Assembly policemen who refused to allow entry. Yet we were told that there would be no public hearing after sitting for almost one hour. It is sad, very sad. The average Nigerian has lost confidence in the judicial system. Who did this to Nigeria?

MURIC asserts that the judiciary is Nigeria’s numero uno problem. Get the judiciary right and everything else will fall into place. Laughable, kindergarten and contradictory injunctions are granted without proper consideration. A large number of such injunctions in Nigerian courts are long in imbecility but short in professionalism. The judiciary appears clumsy and uncoordinated. The Nigerian Judicial Council is therefore advised to clean up its constituency.

In the light of this ugly development, we call on the House Committee on Judiciary and Justice to study the 87 memoranda which the committee chairman admitted that it had been submitted to it with a view to using them to take an informed position on the matter at stake since there is no guarantee that any future public hearing on it will not be truncated with another injunction from enemies of justice and haters of truth.

As we round up, we appeal to Muslims all over the country to remain calm and law abiding. It is evident that concerted efforts are being made to provoke them but it behoves them as followers of the Prophet of peace to shun violence and all acts capable of breaching public peace.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

ALMAJIRI: NORTHERN GOVERNORS MUST ACT NOW

13^th March, 2018

PRESS RELEASE:

ALMAJIRI: NORTHERN GOVERNORS MUST ACT NOW

The number of children involved in the al-majiri system has been rated at over ten million. Recent studies have revealed that kids metamorphose from this ugly phenomenon to members of street gangs. It is strongly suspected that many al-majiri children are now commanders in the dreaded Boko Haram insurgency.      

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) frowns at the poorly arranged educational system which resulted in the al-majiri syndrome. It is escapist, pernicious, retrogressive, counter-productive and inhuman.

Al-majiri as practiced in Northern Nigeria today is a bastardisation of the Islamic education system. Although the word is originally from ‘al-muhajirun’, i.e. migrants, a reference to the early Muslims who followed Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from Makkah to seek refuge in Madinah in 622 C.E., it is now used to refer to child beggars. These are children whose parents gave them out to teachers to learn the rudiments of Islam.

Unfortunately the system has bread poverty, homelessness and hopelessness. It has produced a fi sabilillahi mentality plus an army of vagabonds and a battalion of bowl-carrying kids always roaming the streets aimlessly. It ends up breeding hunger, squalor and the resultant disease.

For example, in places like Azare, Bauchi, al-majiris tie bowls to their clothes and beg for just anything, anything at all. In places like Maiduguri, Borno State, they offer to carry bags for strangers and they are ready to assist in doing house chores for a whole day once a meal is guaranteed. Older al-majiris in Maiduguri area sell sachet water while some do scavenging and sell whatever they find to recyclers.

In thunder, rain and flood, al-majiri children crowd up in open spaces to spend the night. The few who find shelter share single mosquito-infested rooms with scores of others. They are prone to all sorts of contagious diseases. Their personal safety cannot be guaranteed and many fall into the hands of bad gangs, e.g, the notorious Yandaba boys of Kano.

MURIC strongly condemns this obnoxious system. It cannot be called Islamic education in any sense as the focus of the children involved is fully on begging, searching for food and making a living. It makes mockery of the institution of parenthood as envisaged in Islam.

The Qur’an commands parents to take charge of the educational, social and economic responsibilities of their children from infancy till they reach the age of full maturity and capability. This age is forty years (Qur’an 2:233 and 46:15). It is therefore the height of abdication of parental responsibility to give out children to Islamic teachers without caring for the needs of such children and without paying the teachers for their services. No wonder the teachers end up exploiting the children for their personal needs.

MURIC exhorts Northern governors to come up with a master plan capable of resolving the al-majiri debacle once and for all. This plan should take cognizance of the need for a census of all those involved in the system, buildings to be used as hostels, modern structures to be used as schools, adequate remuneration for the Islamic teachers, free feeding and capacity building for the kids, etc.

While we commend the Jonathan administration for building al-Majiri schools in some parts of the North, Northern governors must be held responsible both for the misuse and disuse of those structures. Most of the al-majiri schools are lying fallow today while some have been converted to other uses. This is most unfortunate. The Buhari administration must also intervene by initiating a special project for the almajiranci.

In the final analysis, the blame rests squarely on Northern politicians dead and alive for failing to see the threat coming and for their inability to evolve a means of combating it and bringing it to a halt. It may have been callous and myopic, but the present crop of politicians must not repeat the mistakes of history. Al-majiris must be reined in if the North really wants Boko Haram and gangsterism to become history.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)