Professor Bayo Lawal and Niqab removal saga at LAUTECH

By KUNLE SANNI

Let me express my appreciation first to MSSN LAUTECH branch for their radical and prompt action on this unfortunate incident.

I equally appreciate the fact finding team of oyo area unit
I think we are gradually getting it right. The era of being lackadaisical is being replaced with draconian radicalism.

If the MSSN of LAUTECH had not been pragmatic in their approach by locking the gate of the university. If they had been lilly livered and taking the Constitutional approach of writing a petition to the University authority I can assure you we would not have achieved what I regard as total victory for all Hijabites and Niqabites of LAUTECH for ever
LAUTECH MSSN, I salute you. That was a monumental achievement for Islam in LAUTECH. Posterity will write your name in Gold. No one dare harass our sisters obeying Allah’s injunction on Hijab or Niqab as the case may be again in LAUTECH

This victory is analogous to the victory of Hijab in Abuja law school achieved through the courage and steadfastness of one smallish girl call Firdaous Amasa who became a heroine and instant international Islamic celebrity.

May Allah bless the efforts of both the MSSN LAUTECH and MSSN Oyo Area Unit

However a word of caution is necessary on this saga
Let me state for those oblivious of my pedigree on issue of Niqab. I have three wives. All of them are Niqabites. The first woman Principal to wear Niqab in the South west is Rafiah Sanni my first wife. The first National Ameera of FOMWAN to wear Niqab Is the same Rafiah my first wife.
The first and probably the only Niqabite lawyer in the South west is my daughter Wazeera Sanni practising in the law Chambers of Hakeem Agbaje and Co. So I love women in Niqab and Hijab and without the least effort of self aggradisement was a front runner in Hijab struggle in Yorubaland.

The LAUTECH case needs some Hikma if not we may shoot ourselves in the foot. I am not aware of any public opprobrium on Hijab in which the Principal dramatis personae is a Muslim like this misguided Muslim called Professor Bayo Lawal. Dogs don’t eat dogs. On his forehead is an apparent sign that he doesn’t play with his salat.This Professor is not the only Muslim who love to hate Hijab wearing sisters.

They are legion . Yet Hijab sisters are a beauty to behold.
Ask Barrister Bayo Shittu erstwhile Minister of Communications if a lecturer of Islamic studies at a southern university did not say IF A STUDENT WEAR NIQAB TO MY CLASS I WILL SEND HER OUT.

Allah, Bayo Shittu and Amoo Alaga were living witnesses to this in the presence of Alhaji Abdulazeez Arisekola Alao of blessed. memory. Unfortunately for this Islamic Don three of Arisekola’s daughters were niqab wearing salafis in their father’s palatial mansion in Brondesbury park London.. Arisekola tongue lashed this Niqab hating Islamic guru stating YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO YOUR PROFESSIONAL CALLING.

I know many Islamic scholars who discourages their wives and daughters from adorning the hijab.

To them It is not in tandem with their thinking of a civilised world. It is anachronistic. This is in spite of Hijab being specifically and unambiguously enjoined by Allah in the Holy Qur’an. Shame on them.

So Professor Bayo Lawal is not alone in his misguidance and naivety on the issue of Hijab.

If Lawal were to be a Christian my approach would have been different. I am certain a lot of you brothers in the struggle against Islamophobia will agree with me.

The acting vc Professor Liasu being a Muslim did not prevaricate before suspending Bsyo Lawal as Dean of Faculty of Nursing. If at the end of the day he is removed and replaced by a Christian what would Islam benefit?

If we externalise our provocation and further our diatribes beyond what is on the ground and the government that ‘loves’ us concludes that the acting VC a Muslim is incompetent, would that not be a surreptitious alibi to remove him. Can anybody assure me that a Christian would not replace him. When our brilliant lawyers were frustrated to go six feet below depriving them of becoming judges there was no commiseration with their family before they were replaced by Christians.

So if the acting vc is replaced by a Christian due to our unstrategic approach what would we have achieved?

My advice is for us to have an in-house solution to this problem. Professor Bayo Lawal who was very aggressive and arrogant in opposing Allah’s inimitable jurisprudence is now a caricature of an intellectual. He percolated from hero to a villain. He has been internationally humiliated. He would never in his life harass a woman in Niqab or Hijab.

Due to the humiliation he brought to his family other westoxicated Muslim brothers will never attempt to harass a Muslim sister who sees Hijab as an outward manifestation of piety or perceive them as fanatical or a bigot who should be told to disobey her creator.

Let us call the Niqabite/ her husband , the acting vc and the arrogantly misguided Professor to a meeting and resolve it within ourselves.

This incident is a good omen for our struggle on Hijab and Niqab.

It has sent the right signals to the nattering nabobs of negativity on Hijab within and outside the fold of Islam
The sister’s husband should be persuaded to forget about a court action.

It is like killing an ant with a sledge hammer. It is an unnecessary time wasting phenomenon.

We are winning the war on Hijab. Forward ever backward never.

May Allah bless our collective efforts.