The Presidency has dismissed the insinuations that the Federal Government had banned the use of Hijab, the Muslim women’s dressing symbol of modesty.
This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Malam Garba Shehu.
Giving a clarification on the pronouncement of the President on the issue during last Wednesday’s Presidential Media Chat, Shehu said that the speculations were unfounded.
He said that the Buhari-led Federal Government would always respect the rights of Muslims to protect their modesty and allow religious freedom.
Shehu said that the Hijab was being abused by terrorists to carry out suicide attacks on innocent people, which violated the teachings of Islam.
He, however, said that Buhari would not take any decision on the issue without due consultation with all the stakeholders.
He said that the government would address the security challenge in consultations with Muslim leaders with a view to finding a workable solution.
“Everything will be done to balance national security requirements with the rights and obligations of citizens under their religions as protected by the constitution,’’ he said. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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If there is any reasonable reason to ban it, pls govt should not hesitate to do that. We are not more islamic than those countries that has done it.
ReplyDeleteMr. Emeka, I understand your point, but this is against violation of section 38 subsection 1 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 18 of the declaration of Human Rights. It also violate Article 26 (2) of the universal declaration of Human Rights. Government should think about the immigration issues it will affect on our Muslim women coming to Nigeria. The right of all persons to dress in accordance with their religion belief should not be deprived. The ban will be an attacked to all Muslims in the world because the issue of Islamic dress is link with the issue of immigration and any Muslim female coming to Nigeria by putting up the Hijab will create a scene from entry the country. it would force them to make unenviable choice. Obey the law and deny their faith. Obey their faith and risk criminal charges. Stay at home and become isolated from the community. Dressing the way one sees fit is equivalent to free speech and any attach on it with flimsy justification like it is not our culture and it's not the issue of culture alone, but you are depriving us from practising our rights as a Muslim. As a Nigerian Muslim, we believe in freedom of religion. The President should protect our women from rampant sexual aggression they face on the street every day, where men often sexually harassed Women. Today, we have criminal codes that makes such crimes illegal: rather than punishing our women for the violent acts of others. The ban is not the answer to public safety. If it was ban such crime still continue what would be the next thing the government is going to ban.
ReplyDeleteVasto, you are very retrogessive. Are we more Islamic than Chad or Cameroon? We are not serious. Anybody encouraging hihab does not belong to the 21st Century. We are not Arabs here, we are Nigerians. Christians don't dress in nun's apparels!!
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