Hijab ban at NYSC camps invitation to chaos – Muslim rights group

The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC,
has rejected the purported ban on
Hijab in the National Youth Service
Corps, NYSC, camps.
The Director-General of the NYSC,
Johnson Olawumi, on Tuesday
announced a ban on the use of “long
hijab” by female corps members,
citing security concerns.
But MURIC, in a statement by its
director, Ishaq Akintola, said the ban
is unacceptable to Muslims.
“The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
rejects the purported ban. It is
reckless, baseless and preposterous.
No public officer of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria should speak in
such manner.
“The pronouncement smacks of power
drunkenness. It is a hate statement.
The Director General needs to purge
himself of Islamophobia.
“On what ground is he banning the
use of hijab? Security reason is not
enough because we have examples of
armed robbers using police uniforms
to rob.
“Has anyone thought of banning police
uniform? About forty armed robbers
dressed in army uniform attacked six
banks in Agbara, Ogun State last
week. They killed a policeman and a
pregnant woman. Should we ban
army uniform because of that?
“Brigadier General Johnson and his ilk
are hiding under the security
challenge facing Nigeria to implement
a hidden agenda, namely, to
stigmatise Muslims and to embarrass
our daughters and wives who wear
hijab.
“Is General Johnson aware that
female Muslims in the British police
use hijab on top of their uniform? Can
he tell us how the hijab disturbs a
corper’s uniform?
“Does the DG know that hijab is an
integral, nay, the most vital part of a
female Muslim’s dress? Does he know
that female Muslim corpers feel as if
they are naked when disallowed from
using the hijab? Is he aware of the
psychological trauma such female
Muslim corpers go through?
“How can we spend a lifetime training
our daughters to dress decently and
you dehumanize them in your camp
within 24 hours? How dare you?
“We affirm that we will use every
constitutional means to stop this
religious apartheid against Muslims in
the name of discipline and
regimentation.
“Why must Muslims face persecution
everywhere in Nigeria? Why can’t the
Nigerian system accommodate and
integrate the Islamic culture? Why
cant Nigerian officials allow Islamic
landmarks to stand pari passu with
British colonial and Christian culture?
“Is Nigeria truly independent or is it a
banana republic created to serve only
the interest of the British imperial
masters? Must Muslims be forced to
accept British Christian mode of
dressing?
“We must ask who designed Nigeria’s
school uniform? Who designed the
army and police uniforms? Was it not
the British? What is the religion of the
British? Is every Nigerian in the same
faith? So why cant we allow the
Muslims to retain their identity? Why
cant the Muslims enjoy religious
freedom in this country?
“Why must Muslims be forced to
dress like Christians? Why must
Muslims be denied the dividends of
democracy? Any policy that fails to
carry us along is exclusive. Nigeria is
for all of us. We reject an NYSC that
promulgates anti-Muslim decrees.
“We remind the DG that he cannot
turn Muslims in NYSC camps into
slaves. This is not military rule. NYSC
officials, including the DG will be
acting ultra vires if they take actions
which violate the laws of the land.
“Section 38 (i) & (ii) of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria guarantees religious
freedom. We seek the enforcement of
this right.
“Yet the hypocrisy of the system has
been exposed. Can the NYSC Director
General explain why the NYSC allows
female Muslim corpers in places like
Kano and Sokoto to use the hijab
while their counterparts in the South
are harassed and intimidated?
“Why this double standard? Is the ban
only meant for the South? Or is it
further proof of the mythological
‘Northern-Muslim and Southern-
Christian dichotomy’? It had better
not be.
“We hope it will not get to a point
when Nigerian Muslims will decide to
opt out of the NYSC service year. Yes,
we may have no other option than to
ask our daughters to ignore an
institution which targets them for
ridicule, torment and persecution.
“MURIC charges the NYSC to revisit its
rules. Any aspect of those rules which
fails to respect the faith of Christians,
Muslims or traditionalists should be
expunged. Such rules are draconian
and counter-productive. They only
serve the interest of neo-imperialists.
“We appeal to the National Assembly
to save Nigerian Muslims from annual
embarrassment in NYSC camps. Our
daughters are being derobed in
public courtesy of a system that is
blind to sociological realities, a system
that has allowed itself to be enslaved
by the culture of the colonial master.
“We call on the Director General of
the NYSC to desist from precipitating
a religious crisis of monumental
proportion over the hijab saga.
Nigeria has enough on its hands
already. The DG should stop stirring
the hornet’s nest.
“We insist that Nigerian Muslims
cannot be intimidated. Nobody
should test our will. Nigerian Muslims
have the capacity to mobilize for
peaceful protests in all NYSC camps
across the country if the molestation
of our daughters continue. Enough is
enough.
“We did not bargain for an NYSC that
has been hijacked by religious bigots
and Muslim-haters!
“MURIC has a duty in loco parentis to
cry out against the persecution of
female Muslim corpers. They are our
daughters and also our members. We
charge all Islamic organizations in the
country to rise to the occasion.
“We cry out to our mothers-in-Islam
in the Federation of Muslim Women
Associations of Nigeria (FOMWAN),
the Criterion and all other female
Muslim organizations. It is taboo for a
woman to ignore her child’s cry!
Muslim women arise, the slave
masters are dragging our daughters
in the mud.
“We advise female Muslim corpers to
continue to use their hijab. It is their
Allah-given fundamental human
right.
“We are keeping a tab on those
unscrupulous elements who will
snatch the hijab from the heads of
our daughters or those power drunk
officials who will expel them from
NYSC camps.
“Perhaps the time has come to revisit
the whole gamut of this NYSC affair,”
Mr. Akintola, a professor, said.