Clamp down on Hijab: Kwara Muslim Community Urges Government To Call School Owners To Order
Clamp down on Hijab: Kwara Muslim Community Urges Government To Call School Owners To Order
Kwara State Muslim stakeholders including Muslim youth and women organisations, yesterday called on the state government to prevail on former owners of public schools in the state to allow female Muslim students wear hijab.
They said that since the state government had taken over such schools, the former missionary owners do no longer have control over the grant – aided schools in the state.
The Muslim stakeholders said that allowing Muslim female students to wear hijab will be in conformity with the judgment of the Kwara state High Court of 2016 and that of the Court of Appeal of 2019.
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They asked the state government to direct schools to allow Muslim female students to practice Islam in all ramifications, “i.e. observing prayers and use of hijab by female students”.
Addreing newsmen in Ilorin, the state capital, the Muslim stakeholders, comprising representatives of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Federated Organisation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), and Concerned Parents/Teachers Associations, said that they were surprised that some former owners of schools in Ilorin on Monday and Tuesday forcefully removed hijab from heads of female Muslim students at the entrance gates of the affected schools.
They listed the schools where there were infringements on the freedom of religion of female Muslim students to include St. Anthony, St. James, Bishop Smith, and ECWA secondary schools- all in Ilorin, among others.
Led by Ustaz Isiaq Abdulkareem, the people said they promptly reported the infringement on rights of the concerned Muslim students to the appropriate quarters.
They, however, lamented that at a peace meeting held in the office of Secretary to the State Government on Tuesday, the former missionary school owners, insisted that they were not concerned about the judgements of the Kwara state High Court and the Appeal Court.
“This is the time the government and the people of the state need peace more than ever before. It should be seen as calling for trouble as failure to act may lead to people enforcing their rights in the best possible way.
“As a stakeholder in this government, we appeal to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to take bold and urgent step in addressing this issues to avoid possible outbreak of crisis in the state”, he said.
Clamp down on Hijab: Kwara Muslim Community Urges Government To Call School Owners To Order
