23rd February, 2021
PRESS RELEASE:
WE WILL NOT ALLOW PERSECUTION OF MUSLIM
STUDENTS IN KWARA
The Nigerian Islamic human
rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has waded into the
hijab imbroglio in Kwara State. Some public school teachers
had recently forced female Muslim students to remove their hijab within the
school premises. This has generated
controversy across the state leading to the closure of ten schools by the state
government.
In its own
contribution to the debate, MURIC has vowed to take all necessary
constitutional measures to stop the oppression of innocent female Muslim pupils
across Kwara State. This was contained in a public statement issued by the
director of the Muslim rights advocacy group, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on
Tuesday, 23rd February, 2021.
According to MURIC,
“What is happening in Kwara State today regarding use of hijab in schools is
exactly the manifestation of the five evils which Neville Chamberlain spoke
about: namely, brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution.
On our own part, we will not allow those five evils to prevail in Kwara as they
did in some states in the South West on the issue of hijab.
“The authorities of those ten missionary schools should be ashamed
of behaving like oppressors and slave masters. They are making a mountain out
of an ordinary molehill. A mere headscarf! Britain allows hijab in its schools.
The United States also allows it. Who are those Kwara teachers trying to
emulate? It is anachronistic, myopic and parochial. The world has moved on but
they have chosen to be stagnant. It is an exhibition of colonial mentality and
gymnastic religiousity. It must stop.
“Missionary schools
that insist on stripping Muslim children of their Islamic identity should be
ashamed of themselves. Perhaps they are not aware of the impression they are
trying to create. ‘It is our school so anybody who comes here must conform with
Christian dressing style, Christian way of life, Christian faith…’
“That was exactly
what the colonial master did in those days and that is why we accuse them of
displaying colonial mentality. The colonialists would not allow any Muslim to
attend their schools without changing his or her name to a Christian name.
Rasheed became Richard. Ishaq became Isaac and Mikail became Michael. The
Muslims bore the persecution with patience and perseverance until the
colonialists left in 1960. But are we still in pre-independence Nigeria? Even
apartheid has collapsed in South Africa. How then can we stomach religious
apartheid in a predominantly Muslim state?
“Yes. We say it boldly, loudly and clearly. Kwara is a predominantly
Muslim state. It is absolutely absurd for any group to think it can subject
Muslim children to oppression in such a place. Infra dignitatem. Take your
missionary schools to Rivers State if you want to change the identity of Muslim
children by force. Nyesom Wike is waiting with open arms to accept you.
Afterwards he has illegally declared his state a Christian state in violation
of and to the chagrin of Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
“But not in Kwara
State. It is an abomination to deny Muslims their Allah-given and fundamental
human rights in a state where they enjoy a comfortable majority status. Muslim
leaders and Islamic scholars in the state have to wake up. Female Muslim
children are being stripped of their hijab in Ilorin, the city of Alfas? It is
incredible. It had better not be.
“Are the schools not
grant-aided? So you want to use public money to persecute Muslim children until
they submit to forceful conversion? Even if they are missionary schools, must
they force female Muslim students to strip? We are not surprised because it is
part of their old way of forceful conversion. Nigerian Christians should desist
from using Muslim children to subject their parents to psychological trauma. We
will not go back to slavery. Enough is enough.
“MURIC advises Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq not to provoke Kwara
Muslims by making illegal, illegitimate and unconstitutional compromises to the
persecutors of Muslim children. The Nigerian Constitution is the font et origo of all byelaws, rules and
regulations in the land and Section 38 (i) (ii) not only guarantees freedom of
religion but also its ‘manifestation’ which is the role hijab stands to play.
“We may need to be
reminded of earlier court judgements in favour of the use of hijab and anything
to the contrary can only be contempt of court. Exempli gratia, in the case of
Provost Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin vs Basirat Saliu Suit No.
CA/IL/49/2009, the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Judicial Division held thus: ‘The
use of veil (hijab) by female Muslims qualifies as a fundamental right under
section 38 of the Constitution.’
“Also in the case of
Abidemi Rasaq & 3Ors Vs Commissioner for Health Lagos State & 2 Ors,
Suit No. ID/424M/2004, the Lagos High Court declared unconstitutional a
circular issued by Lagos School of Health Technology banning the students from
wearing hijab.
“The landmark declaration
of the Court of Appeal in Lagos State v Miss Ashiat Abdkareem CA/L/135/15 is
equally didactic. In his lead judgment, Justice Gumel held that the use of hijab
was an Islamic injunction and also an act of worship hence it would constitute
a violation of the appellants’ rights to stop them from wearing the hijab in
public schools.
“We
are shocked to our marrows that at a time when the whole world is laying
emphasis on girl-child education, missionary schools are depriving the
girl-child of access to education on account of religion. Article 14 of the
United Nations Convention on the rights of children guarantees freedom of
thought, conscience and religion. It says inter alia, ‘Children have the right to think
and believe what they want and to practise their religion, as long as they are
not stopping other people from enjoying their rights.’
“The people of Kwara
must learn how to coexist peacefully. Those children have been using hijab in
those schools all these years. Why the sudden déjà vu? What has changed? Who
incited them against their Muslim neighbours so much so that they are taking it
out on innocent school children? This new face is an exhibition of deep-seated
hatred.
“The only way we can
interprete it now is that they are opposing hijab because it reminds them of
Islam and Muslims. It is those who hate Muslims who cannot stand the sight of hijab.
They know that hijab is the symbol of Islam and they have developed a phobia
for it, nay, they have gone paranoid.
“The use of hijab by
so many Muslim girls in those schools gives them a sense of failure because
their cardinal aim is to convert all Muslim students to Christianity. Usually,
too, the use of hijab in schools also proves the large size of Muslim
population. They love to pretend and lie that they are the majority, that they
had taken over the whole of Nigeria. But it is all lies concocted to attract
foreign funds and to deceive the Western world. And what do they use the
foreign funds for? They buy private jets. Or has anyone seen any Islamic
scholar in Nigeria who has a private jet?
“Kwara State
Government should be careful not to run foul of the constitution. Government
must be bold, truthful and pragmatic. The Kwara Muslim community must reject
this attempt to deprive their children the right to education without duress.
Furthermore, we believe that the change of a child’s faith begins by
changing her face. You are addressed by the way you dress. Any policy that
allows the proprietors of faith-based schools to determine the mode of dressing
in their respective schools is another attempt to undress female Muslim
students in public and to supplant their Muslim identity with a Christian
entity. This is deception, greed, selfishness and child-stealing by style on
the part of such proprietors. It is wicked, tortuous, unlawful, illegal,
illegitimate and unconstitutional.
“In loco parentis, the parents must guide and protect
their children from being coerced into compromising their faith. This is a duty
which parents must not abdicate. The children may have to blame the parents in
future if they fail to stand up for the kids now. Islamic scholars in the state
must not sell the children’s rights for a pot of porridge. Posterity will judge
all of us.
“There are no two
ways to it. Female Muslim students in Kwara must use the hijab. It is their
Allah-given fundamental human right. MURIC will not hesitate to take all
necessary constitutional steps to ensure that the students use hijab. No
retreat. No surrender”.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
No comments:
Post a Comment