OSUN CHAPTER OF CAN BREEDING ANARCHY

13^th June, 2016,

PRESS RELEASE:

OSUN CHAPTER OF CAN BREEDING ANARCHY   

The Osun State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria has vowed to order Christian students in public schools to wear church garments to school if Governor Rauf Aregbesola goes ahead to implement the judgement of the state’s High Court giving legal backing to the wearing of hijab to school. Justice Oyedeji Falola of the Osun State High Court, Oshogbo, gave the ruling on 3^rd June, 2016.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is worried by this show of collective arrogance. Osun CAN’s threat is a manifestation of poverty of ideas. CAN is at the end of its tethers. The decision to go public with this kind of threat is short in logic, long in mediocrity.

 

MURIC is constrained to do a brief x-ray of the situation. It is high time Nigerians admitted that there are fanatics and extremists among both Christians and Muslims. It is sad to note that Nigeria is currently sandwiched between fanatical Christians and extremist Muslims. The provocative and neo-colonialist propensities of the fanatical Christians often goad extremist Muslims to violence.

In this particular scenario, Osun CAN has simply upgraded collective fanaticism to officialdom and demonstrated the fact that it has no respect for the rule of law. It should be noted that the threat coming from CAN is tantamount to contempt of court. A competent court of law gives judgement, then the executive body of a religious group which is supposed to know better, starts issuing threats.

Yet in its characteristic manner as an unrepentant anarchist, a confusionist and advocatus diaboli, Osun CAN has appealed against the judgement of the court. Is it therefore not highly hypocritical to still turn around issuing threats? If Osun CAN knew the civilized way to reject a court judgement, why has it also chosen to take the barbaric path parri passu? Why not wait for the outcome of its appeal?

For those who care to reason, we reiterate the rationale for the demand for the use of hijab by female Muslim students in all public schools. Firstly, hijab is divinely commanded in the Glorious Qur’an (24:30-31) and failure to abide attracts Allah’s wrath. Secondly, Freedom to practice and manifest one’s religion is enshrined in Section 38 (i) & (ii) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Thirdly, the conventional school uniform was designed by the British colonial masters who, essentially, were Christians. The present school uniform is therefore a Christian uniform and it is being imposed on Muslim students. This, to us, is unacceptable. It is oppressive and sectional. It assails all known principles of emocratic practices. 

MURIC therefore hails the June 3, 2016 judgement of Justice Oyedeji Falola as fair, balanced and historic. A Daniel is come to judgement.

The threat by Osun CAN stands logic on its head. It is only Muslims who use hijab everywhere they go, whether they are going to the workplace, to attend an official function, to a party or for a friendly visit. They use it whenever they are outdoors. Christians have never been known to do this.

It therefore sounds ridiculous to hear CAN threatening to direct Christian students to use church garments to school. MURIC has two posers for Osun CAN:

1.  Since it is not only female Muslim students who will be using the hijab (all conscious female Muslims in the state use hijab whenever they step out of their houses), will Osun CAN equally order Christian civil servants, businessmen, farmers and artisans in the state to start wearing sultana and other church garments anywhere they go?

2.  If CAN gives such an order, what kind of church garment will be used by Christians who are neither members of the Celestial Church nor members of any of the white-garment churches?

3.  As female Muslims use their hijab even to social events, will Osun CAN also order all Christians in the state to wear their church garments to all social events including the ‘owambe’ and overnight parties?

The high level of deceit in Osun CAN will be exposed if it fails to issue the above orders to all Christians in the state. CAN is using a tactic known as ‘elimination by procrastination’. The whole idea is to exterminate Islamic landmarks by disallowing or delaying their practice among Muslim children until the latter become adults. It is assumed that it will be too late to start practicing such things at that time since they are not used to it. A sapling is easier to bend than a tree.  

We call on the government of the State of Osun to ignore the rantings of Osun CAN. Aregbesola’s regime should not succumb to intimidation after satisfying all righteousness. Let the law take its due course.

We urge the Ministry of Education to ensure immediate and prompt compliance with the court’s directive. Hijab samples should be sent to all schools. The ministry should show the political will for implementation. Undue delay and disobedience of clear directives by school heads should be treated as insubordination and met with stiff punishment as contained in civil service rules.

We charge the Osun Police Command to do the rightful. The police has a duty to execute orders once the judiciary has made pronouncements. Anyone who incites citizens in the state to behave in a manner capable of causing public disorder should be made to face the wrath of the law. The court has made the type of garment approved by it abundantly clear. Anyone who causes minors to use unapproved garments should be dealt with according to the law.

Meanwhile, we urge Muslim parents and Islamic organizations in the State of Osun to remain proactive, calm and law abiding. We appeal to them to cooperate with the state government and the schools in ensuring that female Muslim students start using hijab made in the colour and design of their schools’ uniforms. Muslims must eschew all forms of lawlessness or the temptation to react to provocation from Osun CAN.

Finally, we call on all well-meaning citizens within and outside the State of Osun to call the state’s chapter of CAN back to the path of reason. In particular we appeal to both Mr. Femi Falana and Professor Wole Soyinka to speak out on the court’s judgement on hijab and CAN’s reaction in the same way that they intervened recently in the case of Ese Oruru of Bayelsa State. We are interested in seeing how objective the two respected social critics can be.

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

NO TO NYSC CAMP IN RAMADAN

9^th June, 2016,

PRESS RELEASE:

NO TO NYSC CAMP IN RAMADAN   

Authorities of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) 2016/17 Batch A Stream 2 (II) has announced 13^th June as the new date of opening camp.       

We of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) hereby reject this date because Muslim corpers will still be fasting at that time. It is illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional for NYSC to hold camp at a time when its Muslim members will be deprived of their freedom of worship and the liberty to practice their creed without fear. This planned camp is exclusive, discriminatory and parochial.

Any Nigerian institution dealing with schedules and programmes particularly the NYSC whose programmes are of such magnitude is expected to consider the dates and periods of important festivals, rituals and religious practices. This should form the core of its logistics. It is our humble opinion that NYSC headquarters has failed in its strategic planning by allowing its next camp to clash with the Ramadan period.

What happened to 21^st May, 2016 which was the date earlier picked for the orientation? We do not want to believe that the shift was deliberately planned to coincide with the Ramadan season with a view to excluding prospective Muslim corpers.

MURIC is not trying to indulge Muslim youths. Fasting is no joke and it certainly cannot be combined with the physical challenges which characterize the NYSC camp. Eligible Muslim graduates will definitely want to be part of the service but the obstacles standing in their way are gargantuan.

Firstly, morning drills in NYSC camps are known to be rigorous and the soldiers in charge will not take excuses. Dehydration sets in later in the day particularly in the hotter regions of Nigeria. Ramadan period is therefore not the best time to hold NYSC orientation camp.

Secondly, adequate sahuur (early morning meal taken approximately between 4 am and 5.15 am) cannot be guaranteed in the NYSC camp. Neither can the futuur (meal taken at sunset to break fast ) be timely as camp schedules are bound to ignore and subsume this very important period.

Thirdly, attending orientation camp and partaking in the energy-sapping activities on empty stomach is an indubitable invitation to health crisis. NYSC may therefore be inviting Muslim corpers to step on landmines in the planned orientation camp if it holds as presently scheduled.

The fourth issue is the spiritual angle. There is more to Ramadan than ordinary fasting. That is on the surface. The whole month of Ramadan is a period of spiritual dedication. There are so many other spiritual exercises in which Muslims engage, the tafsiir (exegesis of the Qur’an) session, the taraawih (late evening supererogatory prayers) and nawaafil (night supererogatory prayers). Only the deep can call to the deep. All these cannot be possible in the NYSC camp.

Can this timing be a trap waiting for Muslim corpers who dare to complain about delays in breaking their fast? A hungry man, they say, is an angry man. Can NYSC authorities assure the nation that hungry Muslim corpers will not be constrained to vent their spleen? Can they further assure us that no Muslim corper will be sanctioned on account of such behavior?

Unlike the Islamophobic climate expected in an NYSC camp organized in Ramadan, what happens during Ramadan in Muslim-friendly environments is that both primary and secondary schools close for the day around 2 pm. Lectures in tertiary institutions stop from 3 pm while civil servants also leave their offices by 2 pm. If Muslims are not asking the Nigerian government to do this, its agencies should not become blatant tools of oppression.

Religious crisis is common in Nigeria due to the overzealousness and insensitivity of some government officials. Official policies in this country often fail to take our cultural and religious plurality into consideration.

For the avoidance of doubts, we affirm that fasting is compulsory for every Muslim adult (Qur’an 2:183) and any obstacle put in the way of Muslims to make it impossible for them to fast is an encroachment on their Allah-given fundamental human right and a flagrant violation of Section 38 (I) & (II) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The clear message we are sending to NYSC officials here is that the camp planned to begin on 21^st May 2016 constitutes a serious impediment to the religious observation of Muslims. It is exclusive, sectional and parochial. The planned camp should be put in abeyance for now in the interest of peace. A stitch in time saves nine.

Muslim youths throughout the country are bitter and furious at the thought of being disallowed to fast in the month of Ramadan. The best which NYSC headquarters can do for Nigeria now is to postpone the camp till the end of Ramadan. This country needs peace and stability to develop. We have had enough religious crises. NYSC should not stoke another.  

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

GIVE THE 54 SOLDIERS RAMADAN PARDON

5^th June, 2016,

RAMADAN MESSAGE:

BUHARI SHOULD PARDON THE 54 SOLDIERS IN THIS MONTH OF MERCY   

Nigerian Muslims will start the Ramadan fast today, Monday, 6^th June, 2016 following the sighting of the crescent as announced by His Eminence, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto.       

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) seizes the opportunity of Ramadan being divinely recognized as the month of mercy to appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to grant presidential pardon to the 54 soldiers who are presently serving ten year jail term ostensibly for refusing to fight Boko Haram insurgents.

It will be recalled that the 54 soldiers were sentenced to death in December 2014 before this was commuted to ten years imprisonment each in December 2015 by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai. Nigerians have since learnt that the soldiers merely asked to be properly armed before advancing on the enemy.

The ongoing armsgate trials have revealed that Nigerian soldiers were actually deprived of arms at the time while the top echelon diverted money meant for the procurement of arms to the pockets of politicians. This may have informed the decision of the COAS to commute the death sentence of the 54 soldiers to imprisonment.

Leveraging on the Ramadan season as the divinely acknowledged month of mercy (rahmah), MURIC hereby appeals for presidential pardon for the soldiers. Like Portia in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice (Act IV, Scene I), we remind Mr. President that “The quality of mercy is not strained, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath; it is twice blest; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes…”

According to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), “The beginning of Ramadan is a blessing, its middle is forgiveness while its end is freedom”. We appeal to the president to allow these three qualities of Ramadan (blessing, forgiveness and freedom) to reflect fully in his actions and utterances during this Ramadan, particularly regarding the case of the 54 soldiers.

There is no gainsaying that Nigeria is in dire need of prayers today. We are plagued with the problems of insecurity, insurgency, militancy and separatist propensities. Our leaders always ask religious leaders to pray for the country. Our Imams are praying. Our pastors are also praying. But the best assurance that Allah will answer this country’s prayers is for our leaders to show remorse and seek Allah’s forgiveness for our collective trespasses. So what better way is there to seek Allah’s forgiveness than by first forgiving our own perceived offenders?

Mr. President, a nation that seeks divine blessing must first purge itself of its judicial wrongdoings. We contend that the 54 soldiers and many other prisoners are innocent souls. They cry night and day. They may not be cursing Nigeria but they hardly pray for her. Set these innocent souls free and see how the doors of heaven open unto your administration.

We also appeal to state governors and chief justices to seize the opportunity of this month of mercy to visit prisons and set large numbers of prisoners free. In particular, we call for freedom for all female prisoners, no matter their religious leaning. Islam has special regard for the womenfolk. They have no business being in prisons.

This is one of the steps which our leaders must take to secure istijaabah (Allah’s positive response to prayers). It will show that we as Nigerians confess our sins before Allah. We are showing remorse, asking for forgiveness. We are forgiving those who actually offended us collectively as well as our perceived offenders. Perchance Allah will close the doors of our country’s travails and open the doors of peace, blessings and abundant prosperity for our country. Nigeria will be great again. Aamiin.   

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

BLASPHEMY KILLING: NO JUNGLE JUSTICE IN ISLAM

4^th June, 2016,

PRESS RELEASE:

BLASPHEMY KILLING: NO JUNGLE JUSTICE IN ISLAM   

Mrs. Brigdet Agbawe, a Christian woman, was attacked by a mob and decapitated in Wambai market, Kano, over a religious argument.      

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) strongly condemns this gruesome murder. It is preposterous, barbaric and unIslamic.

Islam frowns upon mob action and there are laid down procedures for apprehending anyone who breaks the law of the land. Even where blasphemy is committed, the woman should have been taken to the police station instead of being brutally attacked. There is no jungle justice in Islam.

We charge the Nigerian Police to get to the root of the matter and deal with the culprits according to the law. Nobody has the right to take to take the law into his hands. We will not stand akimbo while some misled Muslims smear the name of Islam.

Qur’an chapter 4 verse 59 commands Muslims to obey those in position of authority and, by inference, the laws of the land. There must be decorum in social interface. Anybody can fall victim of mob action if we continue like this. Any false claim can be made against a perceived enemy and a wild mob will descend on an innocent person or persons before you can say Jack Robinson.

MURIC is deeply saddened by this ugly incident. The fact that the victim is a woman makes it more Bohemian, more anti-social and most unacceptable by Islamic standards. Islam teaches respect for the women folk. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said the noblest of men are those who honour women.

In addition, the fact that the Glorious Qur’an prohibits the killing of an innocent soul (Qur’an 6:151 and this poor woman must be deemed innocent until proved otherwise by a competent court of law) is enough to denounce the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

We appeal to the Federal Government, religious leaders and traditional rulers all over the country to intensify enlightenment among the citizens particularly in the area of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence. Nigerians should eschew intense religious arguments except in scholarly and friendly environments.

As we sum up, we recall that there are reports that the police have arrested two suspects. We dare say this is not good enough. Two people cannot publicly hold a woman down and cut off her head. Available evidence point at the participation of a large number of people. The presidency has also shown interest. Heads must roll on this if we must make it a deterrent. We therefore urge the police to dig deeper in order to prevent future carnage. Enough is enough.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)