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Withdraw your bill on Hijab, CAN tells Abdullahi

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BY KAZIE UKO


The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has advised promoter of the bill to legalise the wearing of Hijab in private schools to withdraw it and save the country from unnecessary confusion.

CAN gave an emphatic no, in response to plea by the sponsor of the bill, House of Representatives member, Said Musa Abdullahi, from Niger State, who paid a courtesy call on its leadership on Tuesday in Abuja, to solicit their support.

The association said that the bill if passed into law will cause chaos, confusion, division and crises for Nigeria.

The bill titled, “Religious Discrimination (Prohibition, Prevention, ETC Bill 2021)”, essentially seeks to provide a mechanism for enforcing certain provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as altered, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant national and international laws and conventions on religious freedom and tolerance.

Section 4(1) of part B of the bill read thus: “A person shall not, directly or indirectly or by any combination of the two, be intimidated, harassed, victimized or discriminated against on the basis of religious belief or activity or on the ground of manifestation of religion or religious belief or any other ground of a characteristic that people who have or engage in the religious belief or activity generally have; and on the ground of a characteristic that people who have or engage in the religious belief or activity are generally presumed to have or manifest which may include wearing religious emblem, head cover, hijab, scarf, habit, decent and modest religious dress.”

READ: Traditional worshippers warn Kwara Govt, Reps against hijab

Speaking at the meeting, the President of CAN, Rev. Dr Samson Ayokunle, said the Bill if passed into law will enforce discrimination rather than uniting the country.

“We have laws already that can take care of discrimination. And if anyone is discriminated against, the court is open. The bill if passed will enforce discrimination rather than war against it.

“The bill is causing wahala. You don’t sit on my nose because you have a right to sit down. Beyond your good intent to solve a problem, we may be creating many other ones. There is no mutual respect.

“Your name will go into history as one who disregarded the rights of the Christians to promote their own in their institutions.

“Why do we have to wage war against ourselves? Why do we want to wake up a problem which is sleeping?

“Wearing of hijab has not made any student more intelligent. Piety is in the heart. In a multi-ethnic nation like ours, school uniform creates uniformity, classless.

“Once you pass that bill, be prepared for a state of confusion,” Rev Ayokunle said.

Some other CAN leaders also spoke at the meeting. They included National General Secretary, Barrister Daramola Joseph Bade, Professor Sam Amadi, Professor Yusuf Turaki, Rev. Williams Okoye and Rev. Bayo Oladeji.

READ: Hold Gov Abdulrazaq responsible for violence in Kwara over Hijab – CAN

“I don’t want to believe there is an ulterior motive behind this bill. Is it a kind of bill that will bring money to Nigeria?

“I don’t subscribe to it no matter what colouration is given to it. The bill or sponsors of this Bill should drop it now. We should not go further.

“Some of our Muslim brothers don’t even want it. Nobody has raised any objections to people wearing this. Let this bill be dropped,” Bade admonished.

Similarly, Professor Turaki said the central focus of the bill was on wearing of hijab to which he objected to.

“There are serious religious violations in the North. In some areas, Christians are being discriminated against. I didn’t see in your bill.

“Are Muslim women denied the right of wearing hijabs? If there are, your bill stands the right. If not, your bill doesn’t stand.

“The central focus of your document is hijab. This bill is a bill for hijab. Nigerians will ask themselves, why is hijab becoming a problem since it has never been a hijab? A bill is not yet enforced yet it has become a fight. I bet you, it is going to engulf this country.

“The intent of the bill is to target Christian institutions in Nigeria. Every other place is allowed to wear hijab. Christians establish Institutions in order to serve their God. I do not see how this bill is going to protect Christian institutions. Is your bill going to protect Christian institutions of all kinds or one today? This bill will be misinterpreted?

“We have Boko Haram in the northeast because of sharia, we have bandits, herdsmen, those states are now called sharia states. They said they are going to bring development in the far north but today, it is a sorry state. So, by bringing a hijab, you are going to add division to chaos, crisis. Give it legal backing, it will set Nigeria ablaze. This bill is going to create crises upon crises. This bill should be withdrawn and not to be discussed and passed by the national assembly,” he said.

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On his own, Professor Amadi said “Do we really need another legislation? Even in Europe, where there is an issue with hijab, there are no such laws. They do not need a law

“The bill seems to me that it is primarily focused on hijab. It is focused on hijab even in private schools. It creates a problem. Even some of these provisions undermine the rights of religion.

“It seems to me is overreaching, and undermine the religious freedom.”

The sponsor of the bill, Hon Abdullahi had earlier appealed to CAN members for their support.

“We came up with a proposal which tilts towards proffering solution to the problem that has become a clog in our wheel of progress for quite a while now. A lot of people will say that religious issues are too sensitive to be discussed, but I feel that if you have a problem and you don’t talk about it, you are not likely going to get a solution to it. It is in appreciation of that that we came up with a bill which has gone through first and second reading in the House.

“We are now preparing for the public hearing and it is my practice to build consensus around any proposal that I come up with. We decided to come here and build that consensus before going to that public hearing,” Abdullahi told the CAN leadership.

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