Enough of disregards for rights of Muslims, particularly in South West Nigeria – NSCIA
*They made noise over Sanusi's commencement of Islamic banking but it is best for them today - Investigation
By KEMI KASUMU
Today, Islamic banks especially JAIZ Bank PLC, TajBank PLC and Lotus Bank are a good reference of banking delivery service that many Nigerian (non-Muslim) customers and investors want to be part of. JAIZ Bank is Islamic bank but it is the most religiously tolerant financial institution in Nigeria today as it allows many Christian staff and investors participants in its business, we gathered.
The highest Islamic council in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), has ventilated its concerns about the incessant religious intolerance and flagrant disregard for the rights of Muslims going on in the Southern part of the country, especially in the South West.
The Council, which made this known in a statement titled ‘Live and Let Live’, signed by its Deputy National Legal Adviser, Imam Haroun Muhammad Eze, copied to The DEFENDER on Wednesday, called on Governors and traditional leaders, especially South West, to ensure that the constitutional rights of Muslims in their respective domains are preserved and protected.
The Islamic Council cannot place where the natural freedom and rights of Muslims or Christians to live by dictates of their religions, which is global knowledge and practice, continues to be a thing of concern especially in the Yoruba part of Nigerian regions anytime Muslims decide anything based on their religion and which is constitutional.
This global online newspaper recalls how announcement of Islamic banking commencement, during the administration of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), generated a nationwide row, although the system which is legal was not even initiated by Sanusi but Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, a non-Muslim CBN Governor in his time.
Today, Islamic banks especially JAIZ Bank PLC, TajBank PLC and Lotus Bank are a good reference of banking delivery service that many Nigerian (non-Muslim) customers and investors want to be part of. JAIZ Bank is Islamic bank but it is the most religiously tolerant financial institution in Nigeria today as it allows many Christian staff and investors participants in its business, we gathered.
It has, therefore, become worrisome how the Ngbati Press (the Lagos-Ibadan concentrated media) at the time chose to toe the path of misinformation in matters involving Islam and Muslim rights leading to the high level of intolerance that is now witnessed in especially the South West region.
Feeling uncomfortable that these continue to occur in a country that is regulated by law and administered by constituted authorities, the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) said ‘enough of all of that’.
“The most recent development emanated from Ekiti state where the efforts of the Muslim community to set up an Independent Shariah (Arbitration) Panel was met with unwarranted resistance and objections from both political and traditional quarters.
“This is coming barely a few weeks after the announcement on the inauguration of a Shariah panel in Oyo State generated unnecessary anxiety thereby leading to its indefinite postponement.
“The Independent Arbitration Panel, which is a voluntary platform designed solely for the resolution of civil and marital disputes among consenting Muslims, was to fill the inexplicable vacuum created by the failure of the political elite in South-Western Nigeria to establish Shariah Courts, as allowed by the Nigerian Constitution, in South-Western states, despite the huge population of Muslims in the region,” said the NSCIA in the Eze’s statement.
The Islamic Council, which decried the unfortunate and unpatriotic attitudes, noted that these and other cases, such as the denial of the rights of female students to wear the Hijab despite a Supreme Court of Nigeria’s judgement, are nothing but calculated attempts to prevent Muslims in the region from practicing their faith.
It said that, “Arbitration and the Shariah Court of Appeal, just like the Customary Court of Appeal (which all of them have) are provided for in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (see section 275), confirming the legality of both initiatives”.
The statement informed that the NSCIA supports the establishment of the Independent Shariah Arbitration Panel in Ekiti and Oyo States for the purpose so intended, especially where the Muslims in the states have been denied their constitutional right to a Shariah Court of Appeal in all the states of the South-Western Nigeria.
“The Council cannot find any legal justification for the unnecessary alarm and unwarranted resistance. All the states in the North have Shariah Courts and some, in addition, have Customary Courts.
“The council calls on the governors and traditional authorities in the southern part of the country, particularly the South-West, to ensure that the constitutional rights of Muslims in their respective domains are preserved and protected. While others are allowed to live, Muslims should also be let live,” it said.
