Head-teachers, teachers collaborate with CAN to intimidate Muslim female – Muslim Community raises alarm

The Muslim Community has alleged that some teachers and head-teachers in public primary and secondary school in Osun state have collaborated with the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, to harass Muslim students and intimidate them from enjoying their right to freedom of religion.

The group has, however, threatened that legal action would be taken against whoever tries to harass the students, noting that the court has held that any harassment, intimidation, torture, constitutes infringement on the fundamental rights of the Muslim female students.

The first Vice President of the Muslim Community, Alhaji Mustafa Olawuyi, stated this in a release made available to news men in Osogbo, the state capital.

He said “the attention of the Osun State Muslim Community has been drawn to the press statement issued by the Christian Association of Nigeria after its South West zonal meeting held on Wednesday the 22nd of June, 2016 where the body claimed that it had filed a notice of appeal and stay of execution, hence the Association will direct the Christian students to start the wearing of choir garments to school if the Muslim continue the wearing of hijab to schools in accordance with the judgment of court.

“May it be said for the umpteenth time that we do not care with what anybody wears. So we can not be threatened by that statement.

“When we want the world to know that up till date, we have not been served with any motion for stay of execution. Be that as it may, the wrong impression CAN is trying to create is that once an appeal and a motion for stay are filed in court, they are as good as having been heard and granted.
“This is far from being the true position of the law. We believe if CAN had taken time to seek for proper legal advice, the association would have known that an appeal does not operate as a stay while a motion for stay filed in court has to be served on other parties who will also have time to react to it before it is determined one way or the other.

“This position of the law the Muslims of Osun as law abiding people understood very well when we filed our case more than three years ago, we waited till our prayers were granted before our children started the use of hijab.
“Therefore, our female students as successful litigants will continue their use of hijab in all public schools. The Judgement of Justice Jide Falola is in force. It has not been set aside nor stayed by any court.

Olawuyi, however, urged the Muslim female students to disregard the statement issued by CAN and continue wearing their hijab.

“We also warn some principals, headteachers and teachers who are collaborating with CAN to intimidate some of our children to desist from doing so as we would not hesitate to confront them by legal means available to us,” he added.