The Kwara Muslim stakeholders blamed the state govt. for not arresting and prosecuting perpetrators of the violence
By Dele Moses, Ilorin
Kwara State Muslim Stakeholders in Offa and Oyun Local Government Areas of Kwara State have expressed objection to actions of the state government on some issues involved in the recent crisis over wearing of hijab by female students at Oyun Baptist High School, Ijagbo in Oyun Local Government.
The government last week reopened the school after it received report of panel of enquiry it set up over the crisis but was yet to issue a white paper over the report.
The Muslim stakeholders while faulting the intervention of the government on the crisis, blamed it for not ensuring arrest and prosecution of people they described as known perpetrators of a violence that led to the killing of a Muslim youth, Habeeb Idris and injuring of some other faithful during the crisis.
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The stakeholders who addressed newsmen in Ilorin on Thursday also condemned the government for providing what they described as insignificant amounts of money to family of the deceased as compensation and to the injured for treatment.
They said that the government “unashamedly gave a paltry sum of one million naira to the family of the slain Habeeb Idris and two hundred and fifty thousand naira only for the treatment of the ten victims of gunshot,’
The Muslims who alleged that the killing of Idris and injuring of the others were by people they described as agents of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) wondered why the government would offer CAN N250, 000 after the alleged agents of the association perpetrated the violence.
They however expressed satisfaction that the families of the deceased and the injured returned the monies to the government.
“We want to put it on record that the families of the deceased and the injured victims have since returned the embarrassing sums mentioned above to the state government,” they stated.
The Muslims demanded that the government should ensure that perpetrators of the killing and the maiming be arrested and prosecuted
They also demanded adequate compensation to the bereaved family while asking the government to settle medical and other expenses of the injured victims.
The stakeholders asked the government to release white paper of the panel of enquiry even as they faulted the government for not making the panel a judicial one.
The Muslims, who alleged that some members of the staff of the Baptist school were intimidating female students who wear hijab after the school had been reopened with a government’s directive that willing Muslim female students are free to wear the hijab, asked the government to warn and monitor staff of the school on intimidation of the students.
