By KEMI KASUMU
The Kwara State Muslim Stakeholders, on Tuesday, reacted to criticism of Kwara State Government’s declaration of 1st Muharram 1445 AH (19th July, 2023) as work-free day in the State.
In an interview granted to some media executives in Ilorin, Chairman of the Group, Alhaji Is-haq Abdul-Karim, declared the criticism from one Prof Funmilayo Adesanya Davies from Ira in Oyun Local Government as baseless, uncharitable and condemnable.
He wondered what concerned a Christian about public holiday for Muslims, who have endured the imposition of 1st January as a public holiday by Christian colonial masters on the Muslims in Nigeria for more than 63 years.
The chairman commended the Kwara State Governor, Mallam Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Razaq, for doing what is right at the right time pointing out that his singular act on that matter elicited alot of commendation for his administration.
He described the vituperations and negative reaction of Mrs Davies on this matter as a sign of religious intolerance and fanaticism on her part pointing out that she is among the people using religion to cause trouble in Nigeria.
Alhaji Abdul-Harim, a chartered accountant, said as an academic Prof Davies ought to have commended Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for the declaration and praise Kwara State Muslim Community for their patience and endurance for the past 30 years “that they have been making the demand for 1st Muharram of every year as Public Holiday.”
He explained further that the record met by Governor AbdulRahman indicated that his predecessor, Governor AbdulFatai Ahmed, had approved the 1st Muharram as work-free day but was not conveyed officially, pointing out that for Governor AbdulRahman to do it now “is better late, than never”.
According to him, “Muslims in Kwara State have never queried the declaration and celebration of 1st day of Christian/Gregorian Calendar Year – January 1st – as a Public Holiday’.
He added that the negative reaction to the declaration, made last week by Mrs Davies, smacks ‘unnecessary envy and hatred for Muslims’ out out of religious fanaticism and parochialism; Alhaji Abdulkarim said.
The Muslim leader asked “how could an academic of her calibre be ignorant of the fact that Oyo and Ogun States headed by christian Governors had earlier declared 1st Muharram of this year as Work-Free Day in their States. This is in addition to similar declarations across Nigeria including Osun State.”
He therefore summarily described Mrs Davies’ criticism as “the ranting of an ignorant and religiously intolerant academic’ who should not be allowed to henceforth mentor any of our youths as she could mislead them; due to her patent religious hatred for large percentage of the Society; adding that Nigeria and Kwara parade overwhelming muslim majority even in Oyun Local Government where she comes from. How then do you subjugate or persecute vast majority of the people, the Chairman queried?”
In his response to Mrs Davies’s call for return of Kwara Schools to missionaries, the Kwara Muslim Stakeholders leader said that “the woman goofed again because of her pretence of ignorance that the matter was taken to court by Kwara CAN since 2013 and they lost at Ilorin High Court by the judgement of 2016 and also lost their Appeal to the Court of Appeal in 2019; asking why a Professor like her was behaving like an illiterate by calling on Kwara State Government to go against the ruling of the two superior Courts of Record on return the Schools to the Mission which would amount to running against the ‘rule of law’.”
Alh. Abdulkarim stated further that by the two subsisting court judgements, all Christian and Muslim mission schools, both primary and secondary, in Kwara State formerly owned by them are public schools.
This, he said, has been so since 1976 and that Kwara CAN suits against KWSG were ‘just testing the microphone and that the two judgements were against Kwara CAN.
He said the Court of Appeal Ilorin had also declared Kwara CAN as “meddlesome interlopers who are unknown to the law ‘on the return of schools matter’ filed before it.”
He said, “With all these submissions, the Kwara Muslim Stakeholders asked Mrs Davies – which schools she was talking about; stating further that after the judgement delivered by Court of Appeal on the matter in 2019, Kwara CAN just filed an Appeal to Supreme Court in 2021 without filing any brief till date,”
He stressed further that KWSG had continued to own, manage and run all their public schools with tax payers’ money of several billions of Naira since 1976 and would continue to do so; warning all school principals in those schools to stop double loyalty in running the schools or face the consequence of it.
The Chairman therefore warned Mrs Funmilayo Adesanya Davies not to precipitate fresh religious crisis in Kwara State and later hibernate in Ira, Oyun Local Government, stating that even if she ignite any religious conflict in Kwara State and absconds, Security Agents will trace her to anywhere she might be.
The Group concluded by calling on Security Agencies in Kwara State to be at alert and ‘”keep their eyes on this woman academic’ whom they described as someone who wants to steer fresh religious war in Kwara State.”
