BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
The Muslim Rights Concern has urged the Kwara State Government to include the word “government” in the names of all of its schools to reflect the non-exclusivity to a particular religion, regardless of which religious institution founded it.
MURIC leader, Ishaq Akintola, spoke to The Point, in reaction to the eruption of fresh religious clashes concerning the wearing of hijab by a female student last Thursday at Oyun Baptist High School, Ijagbo, Oyun Local Government Area of the state.
Recall that the state government on January 25 directed schools in the state to allow the use of hijab by Muslims without forcing it on anyone or turning them back for using it.
This however didn’t nip the crisis in the bud as the fresh clash reportedly claimed the life of at least one person, hence the government’s eventual shut down of the school.
In an attempt to resolve the matter, two government delegations had visited the school on Thursday at different occasions.
A government delegation, led by the Commissioner for Education, Hajia Sa’adatu Kawu, had visited twice while another delegation led by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mohammed Saifudeen, also visited the town for the same reason.
However, violence erupted outside the school gate about 8am when some Muslim parents stormed the school protesting the school’s rejection of their ward.
It was alleged that some of the parents took weapons to defend themselves while some unidentified persons from inside the school were seen throwing missiles at those outside the premises before security operatives arrived at the scene to restore peace and blocked the Osogbo-Offa-Ajase Ipo Highway.
One casualty, Habeen Mustapha, was feared dead with some others injured during the clash which was between Christians and Muslims before the State Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Sa’adatu Modibbo-Kawu in a statement announced the shutdown of the school.
Akintola, therefore urged Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to rename the government school to no more reflect that it is controlled by a particular religion, saying, “The concept of schools belonging to Christians or Muslims where the schools have been reformed to government do not apply any longer, particularly where those schools are being fully funded by government. Salaries and other expenses are being paid by the government, so how can we call them Christian schools and Muslim schools?
“If Christians want to insist, they should go back to court, particularly the Christians of Kwara State. It is not the ordinary Christians that are making this noise and causing this confusion, it is CAN, Kwara State chapter. They are not doing Nigeria any good with their rigid positions.
“We in MURIC are advocating for the insertion of the word “government” in the names of all public schools. If it is Ansar ud Deen or Nawarudeen High School, then we should call it Ansar Ud Deen Government High School or Nawarudeen Government High School. Baptist High School should be Baptist Government High School or Government Baptist High School, the name “government” must appear there, this is our position,” he advised.
He decried the disobedience of the law as well as the religious intolerance and hatred for Muslims by some Christian teachers while calling for the apprehension of the school’s principal.
“It’s a sad reflection of our society. The rules are there that a lot of people are not prepared to obey. The principal of that school and the teachers must be held responsible for making it difficult to obey the laws of the land regarding the use of hijabs in schools.
“We will not allow that, this country will not burn, we will continue to use constitutional means against rigid religionist, gymnastic religionist and acrobatic spiritualist. We will continue to teach them the lesson of their lives through the use of legitimate, lawful and constitutional means,” he warned.
Reacting to whether Christian students should focus on Christian schools and Muslims should focus on Muslim schools, he said, “Those who raise such issues forget that these are day schools and schools are not so many in certain areas and the population of Nigerian children is very high. Unfortunately, the number of schools cannot match our population figure. There is nothing like Christian school, except we set up a private school and run it like a Christian school but all public schools are just public schools.”
He also asked the government to make the next principal agree to allow Muslim girls wear hijab in the school.
“We call for the removal of the school principal and an investigation is done. He should step aside. Any school principal that is going to be transferred to that school should be on the condition that he or she accepts and embraces the rights of Muslims girls to use hijab. It is in the constitution, it is their right. It is Allah given fundamental human rights, why should we even ask for it before we get it? Why should Muslims go to court before our Allah given fundamental human rights are respected?” the cleric queried.
The cleric also knocked female activists and rights groups for their silence on the “Allah given fundamental human rights of Muslims” to wear hijab in schools and he frowned at the non-condemnation of women who dress indecently in public.
He said, “Society should respect it(hijab) for us. You don’t persecute those who wear miniskirts, opening their legs in public, and those who wear clothes that show their breasts in public, those who dress indecently, you don’t persecute them but turn against those who are covering theirs? It’s going to lead to a crisis. We will not open our eyes and watch you persecuting, ridiculing, humiliating, intimidating our mothers, these are our mothers, sisters and daughters.
“There are civil society groups mainly for the freedom of women, we have not heard their voices on the issue of Muslim girls being chased out of school. When you chase a student from a school because she is wearing hijab, you are punishing a whole nation because a woman is a nation. What is wrong with the civil rights groups and the civil society in Nigeria? None of them has offered a single word over the persecution of Muslim children. It is too unfair and one-sided,” he added.
However, spokesman for the Nigeria Baptist Convention, Pastor Eben Durodola called for peace, patience and advice against the politicizing of the issue.
Durodola said, “The religious issue is not something that we need to do with politics, we need to be cautious at the things we do and say because the peaceful coexistence of Nigerians is more paramount to everybody than any individual ambition. The Nigerian Baptist Convention believes in peaceful coexistence. Baptists and Muslims have been coexisting peacefully in Kwara State since its creation.”
Confirming that the Baptist Church don’t allow the wearing of hijab in its schools, he compared doing so with “having somebody enter a mosque to shout Haleluyah” as they don’t go together. He advised the public to be careful about anything designated at a religious place and called on everyone to disregard anything that will disintegrate the country.
“We should not live as if we are strangers. Muslims and Christians live together, they intermarry, so why should somebody come one day and truncate that peaceful coexistence? It’s not the best. So, any policy that’s against the peace of the society, whoever that will bring that policy should think twice. The corporate existence of the country must be more paramount than individual interest, so that we don’t engage in another crisis,” he admonished.
