20th August, 2024
PRESS RELEASE:
MURIC TO EDOGIS: STOP PERSECUTING MUSLIM WOMAN OVER HIJAB
The application form of a Muslim woman who applied
for a certificate of occupancy ('C of O') from the office of the Edo State
Geographic Information Service (EDOGIS) has been rejected because she wore
hijab in the passport photograph attached to the form.
Meanwhile an Islamic human rights organization,
the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called out EDOGIS over the treatment of
the Muslim lady. MURIC describes the incident as another episode in the
pandemic of Islamophobia that has swept over Nigeria in recent time.
This was contained in a statement issued on
Tuesday, 20th August, 2024 by the Executive Director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq
Akintola.
The full statement reads:
"The application form of a Muslim woman,
Khadijah Al-Hassan, who applied to the Edo State Geographic Information
Service' (EDOGIS) for a certificate of occupancy ('C of O') has been rejected
on account of the hijab she wore in the passport photograph attached to the
form.
"MURIC
strongly condemns the action of EDOGIS. This is another episode in the pandemic
of Islamophobia that has swept over Nigeria in recent time. The stereotyping of
Khadijah Al-Hassan over the issuance of 'C of O' is egregious, repugnant and
unacceptable. It is religious apartheid taken too far.
"The Muslim lady applied for her 'C of O' on 12th
December, 2022 and paid the required fee of N230,000. All her follow-up efforts
yielded no results until May 2023 (six months later) when she was told that her
application had been rejected because of the hijab she wore in the passport
photograph attached to the form.
"EDOGIS authorities have turned deaf ears to
all appeals from Muslim leaders in Edo State, including the Chief Imam of Benin
City, on the legal status of hijab.
"MURIC
appeals to the Edo State Government for intervention in this case. Edo State
must not be allowed to become a home of pain, anguish and horror for Muslims.
Hijab is part of Allah-given fundamental human rights of Muslims everywhere in
the world, including Nigeria, but we are forced to cringe, shiver and tremble
before we can be allowed to identify ourselves as Muslims in our land. Muslims
are no longer free in this country. Hate preachers have turned Nigeria into a large
slave camp for Muslims. It is worse than apartheid South Africa.
"The government of Edo State must not stand
akimbo while Muslim haters and islamopbhobic elements use their positions in public
offices to oppress law abiding Muslims by denying them the right to enjoy the
dividends of democracy. We remind the state government that Muslims are also taxpayers
in Edo state and 'C of O' is one of the rights of bona fide citizens of
the state.
"Besides, nothing in the laws of Nigeria or
that of Edo State forbids Muslims from owning landed property. Unless something
is done urgently to address the issue, we will be led to believe that Edo State
has a clandestine agenda to outlaw Muslims in the state from possessing landed
property, thereby unleashing a policy of deliberate impoverisation and vagabondisation
on the Muslim populace."
#EdoStateGovernment
#EDOGISHijabGate
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Founder/Executive Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC).
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