The Ogun State Muslim Council (OMC) has called on the state government to reverse deliberate act of indoctrination, victimisation and forceful conversion of Muslim students in public primary and secondary schools.
Alhaji Kamaldeen Akintunde, its Secretary General, made this known in a statement sent to The DEFENDER on Tuesday.
According to Akintunde, “This form part of the resolutions of the Council at its general meeting held over the weekend at the Awujale’s palace in Ijebu-ode where it received reports from the four divisions of the State on the welfare of Muslims in their respective Zones.”
He said the issues of concerns include compelling Muslim students in government-owned schools to take Christian Religious Studies (CRK), forcing them to remove their hijabs and participate in Christian fellowships on Assembly grounds.
On the issue of compelling Muslim students to take CRK instead of Islamic Religious Studies (IRS), Akintunde said the Council received with dismay factual reports by its members that their wards are only having option of taking Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) as against Islamic Religious Knowledge (IRK).
The DEFENDER reports that despite efforts of Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, and that of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) co-chaired by him and now hugely invested in by the Muhammadu Buhari Administration to achieve harmony and peace among adherents of Islam and Christianity in the country, even in the South West that is much touted to be the most peaceful in terms of religious tolerance and harmony, cases of Christians taking advantage of their positions of authority to deprive Muslims of their freedom of religious practice and rights continue unabated.
To this end, the Ogun State Muslim Council appealed to the Dapo Abiodun-led government to employ Arabic and Islamic Studies teachers and stop school Principals and teachers from forcing Muslims students to take Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK), participating in Christian fellowships and preventing them from using hijab which the highest country’s court, the Supreme Court, recently ruled in favour of its usage in public places including schools.
According to the Council, “Even though the Ogun government has claimed that there is no instruction nor directive that categorically ban or allow the use of hijab in its public institutions or establishments, hence it could be adorned by willing students and workers.
“The meeting however argued that since government business is done in writing, it behoves the government to do the needful by issuing out Circular, allowing the adorning of hijab by Muslim students who may desire it. This, according to the meeting will check cases of molestation, victimisation and forceful conversion and indoctrination. as being experienced in the state.
“The Council wants the Ogun State Government, through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to set up fact-finding mission to public primary and secondary schools in Ogun state to verify and ascertain the series of complaints on the victimisation, indoctrination and forceful conversion.
“The Council also requested the State government to employ more Arabic and Islamic Studies teachers, urging Ogun State government to leverage on the Supreme Court verdict and issue formal directive allowing the use of hijab in the public funded schools.
“This will be in line with the recent Supreme court judgment and provisions of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) on freedom of thoughts and religion,” Akintunde said in the Council’s statement.
The Amir of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) in Ogun State, Ustaz AbdulFatai Adigun, who confirmed the reports of victimisation and indoctrination of Muslims students against the faith of their parents, according to the statement, said the Ogun State Government should join its counterparts in other South West states such as Lagos, Osun, and Oyo to protect the rights of Muslims students in government-owned schools as guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution and sanctioned by Islam.
