11th February, 2022
PRESS RELEASE
MURIC REJECTS MAKINDE’S HIJAB ABRACADABRA
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State who
gave positive signals to the hijab controversy in his state last week has
recounted. However, the Muslim Rights Concern has described his u-turn as hijab
abracadabra. MURIC has fired back by telling the governor that Muslims will
speak to him in the language he understands using the slogan ‘No hijab, No
vote’.
MURIC’s reaction was made known in a
statement circulated to the media on Saturday, 12th February, 2022
by the group’s director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The group said:
“Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has
turned 360 degrees after initially making a positive statement on the use of
hijab in all public schools. Earlier in the week, the governor was quoted as
saying, ‘I have instructed those in
positions of authority in the state’s public service and across all our public
schools not to intimidate or harass anyone because of their religious beliefs
or practices.
“But in his latest pronouncement, the
governor has restricted the approval of hijab to Muslim schools only. Makinde
ate his words when he said, ‘In Christian named/faith-based public schools, the student’s
uniform should be in line with established tradition of the school and
Christian religion.’
“The governor only stopped short
of adding, ‘school authorities in Christian schools are now free to intimidate
and harass Muslim girls who wear hijab’ but those authorities understand the
governor’s body language.
“Makinde’s u-turn is hijab abracadabra and Muslims in
the state will speak to him in the language he understands. Our response is a
simple slogan: ‘No hijab, No vote’. Makinde may succeed in forcing the horse to
the water but he cannot force it to drink. Let him ask those dictating to him
behind our back to come and vote for him.
“Oyo State under Makinde is a cornucopia, in a never ending dazzling
kaleidoscope. In Greek mythology, cornucopia is a horn containing various
things. The governor himself is a bundle of contradictions: democratic and
reactionary, liberal and dictatorial, consistently inconsistent, leaning
heavily to the right but simultaneously putting his whole weight on the left.
Nobody can place Makinde.
“Makinde’s policy somersault is commonsensically nonsensical. We urge all Islamic organisations to
mobilise their members for the election period. Oyo State Muslims have a date
with destiny in 2023. That is the date they will take their destiny in their
hands. They must decide whether to remain slaves or become masters of their own
destiny. They must decide whether to free their mothers, sisters and daughters
from constant humiliation, intimidation and coercion or to leave them in
perpetual oppression, tyranny and persecution.
“Oyo State Muslims must take the message
of liberty to the villages and hamlets. The hills of Moniya and the valleys of
Akanran must echo our slogan. ‘No Hijab, No Vote’ must reverberate on Mapo
Hill. Muslim women in Oyo-Ile, Oke Ogun, Ogbomosho, etc, must breathe the air
of liberty. Enough is enough. We are leaving Babylon.
“Muslims who have voters’ cards must
dust them up. They should check them now and ensure they remember where their
voters’ cards are kept before the day of election. Those who have no cards
should quickly set the machinery in motion to collect their PVC. Your vote is
your weapon. Your vote is your power. Your vote will liberate you from the
tyranny of your oppressors.
“What are we saying and what is Seyi
Makinde telling us? Our children are enslaved in Christian captivity and Makinde is
there double-speaking. Who is he deceiving? Who owns the schools, the so-called
‘Christian named/faith-based
public schools’?
“Who is paying the teachers’
salaries? Who is funding the schools? Is it not the state government? Who put
the state government there? Is it not the people, the citizens, the electorate?
Who are the electorate? Are they not the Christians and the Muslims together?
Where does the state government get the money to fund the schools? Is it not
from the people’s tax?
“Seyi Makinde must tell us if
Muslims of Oyo State are not paying tax. He must tell us if it is only
Christians in the state who are tax payers. It is the height of injustice to
prohibit the use of hijab in the so-called ‘Christian named/faith-based public schools’. Those schools
belong to all of us. Government acquired them long ago and compensated the
missionaries. They are part of our common patrimony. They are nothing but
public schools.
“Our daughters who are in those
schools must not be robbed of their identity. Hijab is their identity. It is
when they are allowed to use their hijab in those schools that there is real
tolerance if Makinde truly believes in religious tolerance. The implication of
Makinde’s compromising u-turn is that Muslim children who remain in such
‘Christian’ schools have no access to freedom of religion while inside the
schools.
“In short, they are not Muslims
while in the ‘Christian’ schools. That is absolute bunkum. It is unacceptable.
Makinde has a choice : allow Muslims to use hijab in all schools or divide
schools in the state into two : one for Muslims and the other for Christians.
“This will mean that Christian
students will be transferred to Christian designated schools and vice versa.
It is not our wish. It is Seyi Makinde’s choice. He has already built a strong
wall of demarcation between Christians and Muslims. That is Makinde’s way of
creating unity and harmony : ‘To your camps Oh Israel’.
“Makinde’s claim that ‘Our
government is god-fearing and we will continue to preach religious tolerance,
equality and justice, which will further engender peaceful coexistence, love
and togetherness’ is sheer rhetoric. Makinde is just playing to the gallery.
“Where is religious tolerance when
the hijab worn by little girls cannot be tolerated? Where is equality when
Christian students wear Christian uniform but Muslim students are not allowed
to use Muslim uniform? Where is justice when Muslim students are forced to wear
Christian uniform? How can there be peaceful coexistence where one group is
treated with scorn? Can there be love in deprivation? Or togetherness in
exclusivism? Wonders will never end in Makinde’s Animal Farm.
Seyi Makinde is over-pampering
Christians in the state at the expense of their Muslim counterparts. It is
therefore hypocritical of him to talk about forging unity and harmony in his
state. The Christians are living fat on the Muslims while Makinde throws the
Muslims to the ground with his policy make-belief and places his heavy knees on
their necks. Like George Floyd, Oyo State Muslims are screaming : ‘We can’t
breathe.’ But Makinde is not worried. Nero is dancing while Rome is burning.”
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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