Muslim stakeholders want religious freedom in Kwara schools

THE Kwara State Muslim Stakeholders Forum has asked the state government to enforce the rights of all students in the state to religious freedom, irrespective of the original ownership of their schools.

The forum is made up of Muslim organisations like the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Young Muslim Brothers and Sisters of Nigeria (YOUMBAS), Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria (MULAN) as well as retired public officers, university lecturers and clerics.

Speaking to newsmen in Ilorin on Wednesday against the backdrop of a recent judgment of the Court of Appeal won by the state government against owners of some faith-based schools in the state, the chairman of the Muslim group, Malam Is-haq Abdulkarim, appealed to Christians in the state to allow peace to reign in schools and, indeed, throughout the state.

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“You will recall that recently, there was about to be a religious crisis in the Ilorin metropolis as a result of actions pointing to a claim that being proprietors of faith-based schools already taken over by government, they still have full ownership.

“This made them (the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)) to take the state government to court; from High Court to Appeal Court, where they lost.

“With this judgment of the Court of Appeal which affirmed the earlier one delivered in 2016 by the Ilorin High Court, we hereby call on the Kwara State government through the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development to enforce the religious freedom of all students in all schools in the state, irrespective of the so-called original proprietors.

“We seize this opportunity to appeal to peace-loving Christians in the state to advise their brethren to allow peace to reign not only in our schools but throughout the state.

“We are concerned by this matter because our children in some Christian secondary schools originally owned by the Christian missions have been facing intimidation, harassment and denial on the basis of their faith – Islam. This is worrisome in a state with over 80 per cent Muslim population, of which 14 out of its 16 local governments have overwhelming Muslim majority,” he said.

Malam Abdulkarim also said that the judgment of Appeal Court on the matter implied that management and control of all grant-aided schools belonged to the Kwara State government and under the control of the governor.

“To insist that Muslims in all grant-aided schools must dress, pray and sing in Christian ways amounts to denial of their rights and such must not be allowed,” he added.