ISLAMOPHOBIA in SOUTH WESTERN NIGERIA! Real and sad! In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful YOU (Muslims) shall certainly be tried and tested …and you shall certainly receive from the People of the Book and the polytheists a lot of insults. But if you are patient and God-fearing, that will be (for you) a great source of success.” (Q3:186) Dear Brethren, it is our forefathers who would be able to say it better. It is those who had the ill-luck of living under the jackboot of British hegemony who would be able to tell which of the following two options is better: life under benevolent colonialism or freedom without equality under the authority of neocolonialists, bigots and religious zealots some of whom constantly hold nations in Africa down. ......I shudder to observe that in Nigeria of today, there are new colonists and hegemons in governmental offices and agencies who relish and enjoy treating Muslims, particularly women, as the new ‘natives’. It pains me to note that in certain Federal agencies in Southwestern parts of Nigeria, to be a Muslim is to be at risk; to be a Muslim is to be told Islam is the wrong choice you have made in your life. Dear sister, there are Islamophobes in these cities who dread and hate the sight of Islam; there are compatriots of yours and mine who catch cold each time they sight the Muslim woman in Hijab. In far away Jamaica, what I am discussing today finds exemplification. Jamaica, you would recall, is a land of freedom; a land of equity. But Ambassador Olatokunboh Kamson of the Nigerian High Commission in Jamaica appears to be desirous of writing a new history for that country, and an inglorious one for that matter. Yes. At a meeting of Nigerian residents in the country under the nomenclature, Association of Nigerians in Jamaica (ANJ), Ambassador Kamson, was invited to represent Mr President. His brief consisted of being the father of the ‘fatherless’ in that Caribbean country. Thus when it was time for him to ‘enjoy some moments of fame’ Mr Kamson stood up like an emperor. He had forgotten that he was Mr Nobody yesterday....He is sent to Jamaica in order that he may attend to the needs and concerns of his compatriots in that country no matter their religious, ethnic or social status. But Ambassador Kamson is an Islamophobe outside Nigeria. You can take an Islamophobe out of Nigeria, but you cannot take Islamophobia away from the Islamophobe. During the usual introductory sessions, which preceded the programme, Ambassador Kamson was said to have become agitated immediately he saw a Muslim woman in Hijab in the audience. He then queried albeit rhetorically “who is this ‘egungun” (masquerade)? By calling the Muslim woman in Hijab an ‘egungun’, Ambassador Kamson sought to ridicule and embarrass the sister in question. But that actually might not be his goal. His goal could actually have been that of passing a message to other Muslims in the audience: “you Muslims are not wanted here!”. Brethren, the Jamaica treatment has since become useful. It is being made use of in such ‘advanced’ places as the Washington DC. On October 28, 2013, the Nigerian embassy denied a Muslim sister in hijab the opportunity of replacing her passport because she refused to expose her ears. Thus dear brethren, exposure of the ears by women have become a condition that Muslim women must satisfy in order for them to qualify to be Nigerians. ...in Nigeria, Immigration officials in Southwest Nigeria, have also been demanding that Muslim women remove their hijab in order that their ears may be exposed before their images could be captured. When they are told such a demand constitute an infraction of the religious rights of the Muslim woman, the officials, argue that embassies of foreign missions in the country, particularly Western countries often demand that applicants bare their full face in passport photos they submit for documentation purposes. This argument raises at least three issues for, as you would have it in a court of law, for determination. One, is there a regulation in the statutes, which established the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) which provides a legal foundation for these infractions and oppression being perpetrated by some zealots in the passport offices of the Nigerian Immigration service (NIS)? The answer is capital No! Is it right for an applicant to be deprived of her constitutional rights based on the so-called requirements of foreign missions in our land? Answer is in the negative. Is it not true that Embassies of the West including the US and UK even allow the use of hijab in passport photographs that may be included in documentation for visa for application? What injury does the Nigerian state stand to suffer from the use of the Hijab by the Muslim woman other transaction in Islamophobia? Brethren, transaction in Islamophobia is indeed not exclusive to the NIS. Nowadays Muslim women are being asked to either remove their hijab completely or partially so that their ears could appear in the offices of the Nigeria National Identity Card Commission (NICC). This infamous act has happened in Ibadan, Oyo State Capital. Transaction in Islamophobia is also going on in the National Youth Service Camps (NYSC) where Muslim women graduates are being asked to completely remove their hijab in order to conform to the tight fitting jeans and dresses on offer for female youth corps members. Transaction in Islamophobia is going on in Lagos and Oyo states where some school principals consider the hijab an anathema and as such it should not be seen on their pupils whether in the school premises or outside. Brethren, what pleasure does the religious bigot derive from perpetrating injustice and oppression against the religious other? When shall these subtle oppression and deprivation of Muslims’ rights come to an end in the southwestern part of Nigeria? When shall some sections among the Muslim populace stop behaving as if the North belongs solely to the Muslims? When shall some among my compatriots who are Christians cease posturing as if they understand Christianity better than Christ and that the South belongs to Christ? Whose duty is it to rescue Muslims in this part of the nation from this subtle siege? When shall Nigerians begin to relate to one another with the consciousness that this nation belongs to us all, not to them? When? When? And When?!!! Aisha Oyebisi Oyetunji Fauziiyah Lawal Abdulkadir Islamiyat Oluwatoyin Ibrahim Adewale Hammed Abayomi Waheed Tunde Alabi Ayobami Yekini Bello Inua Anka Azeez Nafisat Busayo Muideen Owolabi Bakare Hassan Babatunde Dahood Bolanle Yusuf Busheeroh Hadyehola Taiwo Usman Bala Mohammed Kamaluddeen Dahiru Dotun Shittu Ibiyemi Munirat Dosunmu Hassan DrFaith Aderemi Ktofunmi Daramola Folashade Raji Saheed Ademola Draj Fatimat M Zahara Hadiza Suleiman Gachi Oluwatoyin Ganiyat Aransi Giafranco Bosman Abiodun Ganador Oluwaloseyi Olojede DayGee GoodBoy BayLow De General Hanifat Hamza Herkernday Rhidexmafian Hoeyehberyor Agbeyinka Harjorkeh Habeebah Lawal Ishaq Ayanleke Halimatu Bolatito Jibril Abdulmalik Arowolo Jelil Olasunkanmi Khadijah Folake-Sanni Tijani Khadijat Folake Kazeem Ayankola Kafayat Toyin Salami Naima Toun Lawal Taiwo Lawal Olabode Ladipo Lawal Tunde AbdulAzeez Abdulrahman Maryam Odewenu Qasim Rasheed Alabi Bashiru Raaji Adebimpe Ariyo Raymond Mopelola Raji Ademola Rasaq Rofiah Ololade Oyero Sarumi
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 11:32:29 +0000
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