Advocate for Right Leadership Association (ARLA) also known as Believers In Politics (BIP), has cautioned the Kwara State Government, over the closure of Christian Mission Schools attempted by some Islamic fundamentalists to force the use of Hijab on female Christian students and Christian Mission Schools in the state.
The political NGO’s National President, Mr. Kolade Segun Okeowo, who made this known in an open letter addressed to the Governor of Kwara State Governor, Alh. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, which was made available to newsmen, noted that the advocacy group was compelled to write the open letter the state governor: “having been left with little or no other option, owing to the on-going deliberate, calculated and dangerous religious trend in the state, which is capable of threatening the long reigning peace among Christians and Muslims in Kwara State.”
Recall that the Kwara State Government shut ten Christian Mission schools on Friday, February 12, for refusing to allow female Muslim students wearing Hijab to gain entrance into their schools.
The open letter which was also signed by the group’s Vice President North Central, Comr. Ken Kunle Rotimi, the state Chapter Chairman, Elder John Segun Bamidele and Mr. ‘Peju A. Akinyemi the National spokesman, revealed that some Muslims fundamentalists are fiddling with the peace and harmony among religious divides in Kwara State by trying to force the use of Hijab in Christian Mission Schools.
“As we write, the State Government has ordered the closure of about 10 vibrant old Christian Schools. While this is an infringement on the fundamental human rights of the affected schools to propagate religion of their choice, it is also an attempt to paint Kwara State as an Islamic state. This also is contrary to constitutional provisions of Nigeria as a secular state.”
“It is important to stress that this unfair decision has already disrupted the academic programme of the affected Christian schools and students that are still struggling with their academics, due to the effects of Covid-19 pandemic.”
“While it is the right of the Muslim female students to wear Hijab, according to the tenets of Islam, that right does not mandate them to attend schools that do not permit or believe in such Islamic doctrine. The same right that Muslim female students have is the same right that the Christian students and school proprietors also have to determine the dress code of their schools.”
“Our position is that, any Muslim student that cannot go to Muslim schools or government-established schools but prefers the Christian Mission schools should be ready to abide by the rules and regulations of such schools.”
“In the same vein, any Christian student that prefers an Islamic School should be ready to abide by their religious rules,” the letter stated.
The group further cautioned Christian female students not to enroll at Islamic schools and claim that they cannot use Hijab because they are Christians and in the same vein, any Muslim lady who chooses to seek admission to Mission schools must be ready to attend regular chapel programmes irrespective of her religious convictions.
