₦airaland Forum

Fridays work-free, allow hijabs – Muslims list 6 restructuring demandsPublished on October 9, 2017 By Wale Odunsi

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has listed its demands to the All Progressives Congress (APC) restructuring committee.

MURIC 6-point demand is contained in a statement on Monday by Professor Ishaq Akintola, its president.


It reads: “One: Nigerians enjoy a total of eight ( public holidays in a year. These are Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Id al-Kabir, Id al-Fitr and Maulud an-Nabiyy. Five (5) of the eight holidays belong to Christians (Christmas Day, Boxing Day, 1st January, i.e, New Year Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday). Only three (3) holidays belong to Muslims, viz, Id al-Kabir, Id al-Fitr and Maulud an-Nabiyy.

”Restructuring should give Muslims 1st Muharram. This will bring the total number of Muslim holidays to four while Christian holidays remain five.

”Two: Christian marriages contracted inside churches or registries are held sacrosanct everywhere in Nigeria whereas Muslim marriages (nikah) are not recognized for any official purpose. Muslim couples find themselves in a cul de sac each time they presented their Islamic marriage certificates for official purposes. It is paradoxical that in a democracy, one marriage conducted by a religious group is acceptable while the other is not. What kind of constitution is Nigeria using?

”Islamic marriages should be recognized in all official circles where Christian marriages are recognized. The Nigerian Marriage Act (1990) should therefore be revisited.


”Three: Nigeria has a two-day weekend, viz, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a half day during the colonial era and Sunday was the only full day at the weekend. However, Saturday was made a full day to favour the Seventh Day Adventists, a Christian denomination during the regime of General Yakubu Gowon, a Christian military ruler. It is very clear, therefore, that the two weekend days recognized in Nigeria belong to Christians while Muslims have none since Friday, the Muslim day of worship, remains a working day.

”It is pertinent to note that Friday was a work-free day until the British brought Christianity and stopped Muslims from enjoying their Allah-given fundamental human right. The relief we are seeking through restructuring is that Friday should be declared free to assume parity with the Christians’ Sunday. While we are not seeking anarchy, we are confident that the Federal Government (FG) has all the paraphernalia of administration to work out the modalities.

”Four: Immigration officials engage in regular stereotyping of Muslims who apply for international passports. They intimidate Muslims particularly at the point of taking pictures. Muslim males are ordered to remove their caps; Imams are coerced into removing their turbans; bearded Muslims are compelled to shave or trim their beards; hijab-wearing Muslim women are made to remove their hijabs or ordered to draw their hijab backwards to reveal their ears. The same scenario plays itself out in driving licence, national identity card offices and during registration for elections.

”In the process, thousands of Muslims have been denied international passports, driving licences and national identity cards while millions have been disenfranchised during elections. The authorities must find a way of stopping the persecution and profiling of Muslims.


”Five: Uniformed groups in Nigeria, including the army, police, uniformed voluntary groups, nurses, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), students of primary and secondary schools, etc, use uniforms designed by the Christian colonialists. These uniforms should have been reviewed after independence because they only suit the Christians. Some of them constitute breaches to Islamic dress code and offend the sensibility of Muslims who are compelled to wear the uniforms regardless of their inner feeling of resentment.

”In view of the fact that Western countries like Britain, Canada and the United States have designed uniforms with hijab for their female Muslim police, soldiers, students, etc, Nigeria’s restructuring authorities should borrow a leaf from those countries.

”Six: There is no single Shari’ah court in South Western Nigeria where Muslims constitute the majority. This is contrary to what obtained in Yorubaland before the advent of the British. There were Shariah courts in Ede, Iwo, Ikirun, Ibadan, etc. Yoruba Muslims are now compelled to take their civil matters like inheritance, marriage, etc to Christo-Western courts. This is preposterous and unacceptable.

”We demand the establishment of Shariah courts in all South Western states including Edo State where there is a significant percentage of Muslims.

”We call the attention of FG and the restructuring committee of the APC to the above six reliefs. Muslims are in bondage in this country and we believe that restructuring should emancipate people in captivity. APC promised change. This change can only be meaningful to us if it breaks the shackles around our necks. We have begged enough for the restoration of our Allah-given and fundamental human rights. We are tired of begging. Restructuring is about reapportioning the dividends of democracy such that it goes round and it is not restricted to one section.

”Colonial administration was grossly unfair to Muslims. Nigeria was Christianised by Britain and Muslims bore the brunt. We suffered forceful conversion, denial of rightful employment and even worse forms of persecution. But what is most disappointing is the policy of exclusion adopted by post-independence governments.


”On a final note, we demand full integration and full recognition as bona fide citizens of Nigeria, not second or third class citizens. We are the aggrieved party. The British most brutally and most unjustly took all we had from us, giving us nothing in return and offering no relief. It has continued to give us a feeling of rejection, marginalization, denial of the dividends of democracy and lack of a sense of belonging. The time for redress is now and our six-point relief is here for all to digest.”

sunshineG:
she was the first female senator
You are the one turning history upside down

She wasn't elected though because during her time senators were not elected

UnclePati:
Echiejiele was my childhood Friend. We grew up together in benin. at pogah str okpobahill behind blessed doris dey.

He is from Agbor-Anioma delta igbo. Echiejile means tomoro will not go dark

Ogenyi Onazi is from Enugu state. I was once involved in his financial transaction some years back.

The Nigeria Police has asked a serving Senator to return to service on the grounds that he did not legitimately resign from the Force.

Senator Isa Hamman Misau is being wanted by the police for alleged forgery and desertion from the Police.

The Police in Nigeria is insisting that Misau is still a Policeman and should not be a Senator.

Misau is currently representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly.

On Friday, Sen Misau, who is Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy and member of the Committees on Police Affairs and Intelligence, condemned what he described as “series of fraudulent practices in the running of the Nigerian Police”.

Addressing National Assembly Correspondents on Friday, Senator Misau, who is a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said that a high level of corruption had been noticed in the handling of monies allegedly being collected by the police as payment for special security services rendered by the Police to corporate bodies, oil firms and highly placed citizens in the country.

The lawmaker also accused the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, of extorting money from Commissioners of Police, State Mobile Commanders and SPU Commanders.

But the Police spokesman, CSP Jimoh Moshood has asked the general public and indeed the Senate to dismiss statements credited to Senator Misau, saying everything he said about the IGP and the Police are false.

According to Moshood, Senator Misau is “a habitual and unrepentant liar.”

“His real name in the Police is DSP Mohammed Isa Hamman, with Police number AP No. 57300. He is still a Police Officer and not a Senator because his name is still in the Police Service.
“Senate will do the nation good by asking him to return to the Nigeria Police Force to face disciplinary committee and answer all the charges bordering on serious misconduct, unprofessional wrong doings as earlier contained in our press statement released today.
“We want the public to know that he is not fit and proper to be a Senator of the federal republic of Nigeria; because that purported retirement letter he displayed today was forged.
“All DSP Hamman was saying were cheap blackmail, distraction and deliberate acts to derail investigation.
“So the force will want the Senate Ethics and Privileges committee which we have confidence and trust into see reason to ask him to dress up in his police uniform to come and appear before police disciplinary committee to answer charges against him.
“The IGP has no use to distractions DSP Hamman is instituting before the public, and no matter the position any person is, once he or she runs afoul of the law, he will be made to answer the charges,’’ Moshood stated.

I can give an instant Citizen's feedback to President @MBuhari that his Speech this morning was a a terrible case of MISSED OPPORTUNITY. ✍️️

YorubaNigga:
Wrong info!
Even a baby PIG knows that Ile-Ife owns Benin. So how could you bring Lagos to some people who are historically answerable to Ooni? OP please close this thread!

The high expectations of members of the Re­deemed Israel Commu­nity of Nazarene Association (RICON) on a possible ances­tral link between Igbo and Jews have been dashed.

The international President of Jewish Voice Ministries, Rab­bi Jonathan Bernis, announced that the result of saliva samples taken in Nnewi had shown that the Igbo were not Jews.

Members of the group had gathered at Uruagu-Nnewi to collect what would be the con­firmation/ Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test result of Ndig­bo’s claims that Igbo are descent of Israel got to the venue as ear­ly as 9.00am on Saturday for a result that was to reshape the relationship of Igbo and Israel.

Rabbi Bernis who read the report from a laboratory based in Houston, Texas, the United States of America (USA) said that the result of the samples taken from Nigeria random­ly on some people in Igbo­land bear no semblance with the ones in the data base of the laboratory.

The Israeli in company of three of his compatriots said that none of the 124 specimen taken from Nigeria matched the samples in the Houston labora­tory which has 17 years’ experi­ence in DNA business.

He however said that the result does not rule out the claim of Igbo to Israeli descent as more research would still be made to authenticate the claims.

The President of RICON, Bishop Ignatius Orizu (JP) while commenting on the DNA result said that the result would not deter the organisation from continuing to research into the claimed descent of the Igbo from Israel.

He pointed out that the tra­dition, religion and culture of the Igbo long before the arrival of the missionaries have great semblance with that of the Is­raelis.

Bishop Orizu who said that there are many books in circu­lation that collaborated the claim of Igbo to Israeli decen­cy however urged the congrega­tion not to lose hope as science is always in the business of dis­covery and recovery.

He appealed to the Feder­al Government to recognise the Jews in Nigeria and proclaim Yaweh’s Feast of Passover, trum­pets, atonements, tabernacles among others as public holidays as approved for Christians and Moslems during Christmas, New Year and Easter.
Saliva samples were col­lected from Igbo community for Y25, DNA test on February 6 and 7, 2017 at Nnewi, Anam­bra State.

odiereke:
He can go on and on spending his money. It's his call.