11th October, 2021
PRESS RELEASE:
ALLOW KWARA GOVT TO INVESTIGATE VIRAL VIDEO - MURIC
Muslims in
Kwara State and the general public have been urged to desist from jumping to
conclusions on the viral video in which students of an Arabic school were
severely beaten.
Making the call
on Monday, 11th October, 2021 was the director and founder of an
Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Professor
Ishaq Akintola.
He said, “While
we regard the punishment meted to the students as too harsh, we maintain that
the action of the school authorities should not be judged in isolation. The
fact that the parents requested the school to discipline their children must
not be ignored.
“MURIC is also
in possession of another video in which the students confessed that they
engaged in shameful and unIslamic actions, namely, visiting a club, drinking
alcohol, bathing themselves with alcohol, etc. These are horrible acts in which
ordinary Muslims must not be involved.
“Arabic schools
are the repository of morality and the vault of uprightness. They are the
conscience of the Ummah. The offence committed by those students becomes more
unacceptable when the actors are students of an Arabic school who are expected
to be the epitome of morality and religiousity.
“The abyss of
moral decadence into which the Nigerian society has fallen is responsible for
most of the woes facing us in this country today. Nigerians now indulge their
children. Family values and norms have been thrown to the winds. Parents allow
their children to dictate to them. Instead of parents condemning waywardness in
their children and punishing them for it, they now condone and collaborate.
“This is unlike
in the past when a dirty slap from the mother alone will make the child shiver
and he will start begging the mother not to tell his father when the latter
returns home. The result was the sane society which we all miss today. Such
disciplinary measures and the attendant morally upright children are expected
to be found in Arabic schools today and that explains the raison d’etre
for the disappointment expressed by the parents of those students. It explains
why they asked the school authorities to deal with their children.
“Nigerians must
brace up and understand where the authorities of the Kwara Arabic school are
coming from? The students who received that beating were the black sheep in the
school and they would have polluted others by taking them to the club if they
had not been taught that bitter lesson. Who ever expected killings,
kidnappings, rape and other vicious crimes in Northern Nigeria? It did not
start in just one day.
“While we do
not subscribe to merciless flogging, torture and other severe corporeal
punishment, we make bold to say that children must be disciplined. MURIC will
not encourage sparing the rod to spoil the child. Nigerians, nay Africans, must
resist the temptation to embrace strange and obnoxious Western values.
“This is not
London where a 5-year old child can call the police to arrest his mum for
spanking him and all London police units will come racing to the house, blaring
siren. This is not New York where a mother must seek permission from her 3-year
old baby before the latter’s nappy can be changed. This is Nigeria, the
heartbeat of Africa.
“We commend the
parents of those children who instructed the school authorities to punish their
children. Posterity will count them among Nigeria’s puritanists and
disciplinarians. Those who are condemning the parents and the teachers today
are those who will gladly encourage their own children and wards to participate
in BBNaija’s shameful sex in public.
“MURIC stands
with discipline and high moral values. The highhandedness in the punishment is
regrettable but what do those erring students deserve? Should they be showered
with pancake, shawarma and ice cream? They must be made to know the enormity of
their shameful behaviour. The punishment may have been lighter though.
“In the light
of the above, we urge Muslims in Kwara State and the general public to allow
the Kwara State Government to investigate the incident. Government itself must
adopt a middle road. We invite parents and guardians to discipline their
children and wards promptly and proportionately.
“In view of the
fact that many Muslims ran away from Arabic classes in the past due to fear of
the cane, we advise Arabic schools to adopt the stick and carrot policy. They
should use the stick lightly and sparingly but cajole their pupils with carrot,
sweet and buscuits everyday.”
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
No comments:
Post a Comment