Section 38(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, guarantees the citizen the “freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including the freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief….”
This right, or any right for that matter, is not absolute because as we co-exist in community with other people, one man’s right to swing his arm ends where another man’s nose begins.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) once described religion as the opium of the people. The opiate effect of religion has been descending heavily on Nigeria where thousands of innocent people have been dispatched to their early graves by people who disagree with them on issues of belief.
For some time now, Muslim fundamentalists and their induced problems have been at our wits’ end. Last December, a group of Muslim youths under the aegis of Muslim Youths in Da’wab wanted the hijab introduced into the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, programme. They went to the headquarters of the NYSC with a strong protest against the ban of the use of the hijab for female Muslim corps members during orientation. They saw the ban as an infringement of the fundamental right of female corps members.
It took the intervention of the then Director General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Johnson Olawumi, who preached a long sermon on how he was a profound respecter of the rights of corps members but that the ban was for security reasons.
Apparently, it was immaterial to these youths that the NYSC is a national scheme that has been in existence since 1973, having its rules and regulations; and with a nationally identifiable uniform code across all the States of the Federation.
It did not also make any meaning to them that since terrorists have made the hijab an instrument for suicide bombing, the NYSC authorities had a responsibility to guarantee the safety and security of corps members.
The latest entry into the murky waters of the hijab imbroglio comes from the State of Osun. Recently, the Muslim Community in that State brought an action suit against the State government urging it to allow female Muslim students to use the hijab in public schools.
Justice Jide Falola of the Osun State High Court on June 3 2016 ruled that Muslim female students should be allowed to wear hijab in all public schools across the state because it is their fundamental human right.
The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Osun State Chapter, missed the point when it merely appealed against the judgment but failed to apply for stay of execution. Meanwhile, CAN ordered Christian students to wear church robes to class.
On Wednesday, 15 June 2016, students of Baptist High School, Iwo, who wore choir robes and church garments on their uniform, were denied entry into the school premises; while their Muslim counterparts who wore the hijab on their uniform were allowed in.
On the previous day, the State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola had threatened those who violate school rules and regulations with expulsion.
In fact, the Governor is fingered in the ensuring cataclysm. He is today presiding over the affairs of a State where Christians and Muslims, who are evenly divided, have co-existed peaceably over the years.
But his quixotic and dangerous religious adventurism since assuming office some six years ago; and his persistent efforts to push his personal religious agenda in schools have stoked tension, which could boil over, except something urgent is done.
There are important issues of governance staring Aregbesola in the face – the long overdue appointment of Commissioners, backlog of workers’ salaries, accumulated pension arrears and the rest. He should face the problems instead of dissipating energy on religious controversies.
In Osun State, we are looking at public schools that are, strictly speaking, not public. They are schools that were founded and funded by Christian missionaries before the military occupation of Nigeria, when they were compulsorily acquired by government without any compensation.
To discover that the same schools can now be taken over through the back-door and by the instrumentality of the hijab or under any guise is painful.
In this matter, the first step towards lasting social justice is to return those schools to their original owners. Truly, the affordability argument which the military advanced at the time of acquisition is attractive but that can be taken care of through Public Private Partnership, PPP, arrangement in which the owners can run their schools; while government puts in enough subsidy and subvention to be able to take part in regulating the charges.
Islamization anywhere takes a gradual process. When they finish with the schools, they will remember that their human rights also exist in the armed forces, the police, NYSC, Customs, Immigration, Road Safety, etc.
These are institutions that have hitherto been arranged for discipline and orderly conduct but which must now be destroyed by trivialities.
And by the time Christians in their various denominations also push through their own dress code, we shall simply have institutions of many colours all over the place.
But why do humans relish fishing in troubled waters? How does the hijab contribute in any way to solving the myriad of problems currently besetting Nigeria? Ordinarily, the hijab is an Arabic word for “screen or curtain”. Islamic scholars are unanimous on the fact that the hijab was originally meant only for Prophet Muhammad’s wives to maintain their inviolability because Muhammad conducted all religious and civic affairs in the mosque adjacent to his home.
In some predominantly Muslim countries like Turkey, Tajikistan and Tunisia, the wearing of the hijab is strictly prohibited in government buildings, schools and universities.
We must stop the gathering storm in Osun State before it consumes everyone. Let there be peace. Christian and Muslim leaders must realise that they cannot continue to sacrifice the future of their children on the altar of religious intolerance.
By Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan
E-mail: [email protected]
