CAN blames gov as many injured in renewed hijab crisis in Kwara

Many people were reportedly injured on Wednesday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, following the renewed hostility between some Muslims and Christians over the hijab crisis.

This is coming on the heels of the state government’s directive on Tuesday evening ordering the 10 affected schools involved in the hijab controversy to reopen Wednesday for academic activities.

But the resumption, however, snowballed into a dangerous situation that resulted in the throwing of missiles that led to several injuries on both sides.

Some of the victims, who had hitherto engaged in a war of words, were seen with blood on their heads and uniforms while efforts were being made to get them treated.

The situation, however, became worse at Baptist Secondary School, Surulere and ECWA School, Oja Iya, both in the Ilorin metropolis, as law enforcement agents, who had been drafted to forestall any breakdown of law and order, had to disperse the Muslim and Christian leaders who pelted one another over the development, to return normalcy.

It was reported that the law enforcement agents had to fire tear gas canisters to disperse the rampaging crowd from the scenes.

Speaking on the development, the principal of Baptist Secondary School, Surulere, Mrs Bankole J. A, told Daily Trust that “both Christians and Muslims started throwing stones at each other,” adding that so many people were injured during the incident.

She however sued for peace over the issue. Also, one of the Muslims teachers, who refused to give his name, said they were turned back from the school in the morning, adding that the Christians were adamant that they will never allow the use of hijab in their school despite the court judgment and government’s position.

When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ajayi Okansanmi (SP), told Daily Trust that: “After the announcement by the government, the commissioner of police had deployed police officers because we envisaged that there could be misbehaviours from any group and thank God for the deployment because there were a few hot words and some were throwing stones but our professionalism was brought to the fore and peace was restored.”

Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has urged the Federal Government and the Inspector General of Police to intervene in the ongoing violence over the hijab policy that has led to violence in Kwara State.

The CAN General Secretary, Joseph Bade Daramola, said on Wednesday in a statement that the organisation learnt that the Kwara State government ordered the reopening of the closed schools without resolving the crisis, claiming that churches and mission schools were being vandalised with impunity by the hoodlums, banking on the state government’s support in the pretext of enforcing the policy.

“The governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, should be held responsible if the matter degenerates because it was his pronouncement on the issue of hijab wearing in violation of the court directive on the matter to maintain status quo until the matter is finally resolved by the court that led to this trouble.

“Wisdom is required by those in leadership to handle sensitive issues such as that of religion so as not to precipitate war. If any damage is done to any church or anyone is injured on this matter, the governor of Kwara State will be held responsible,” Daramola said.