Security agencies in Nigeria have been charged to ensure protection of lives and properties of all Muslims in the country.
This was contained in a communiqué released after the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA)’s extraordinary Expanded General Purpose Committee meeting held in Abuja recently.
The communiqué was signed by the NSCIA’s Secretary General and Director of Administration, Ishaq Oloyede and Zubairu Haruna respectively.
The meeting which was presided over by NSCIA’s President-General and Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, was attended by Muslim leaders across the country.
The communique noted that Muslims are being persecuted in the country’s South-east region by non-Muslims.
“As Muslims are being profiled and killed in what appears as ethno religious cleansing in the South East by some non-Muslims which is evident in the recent confessions by some individuals, the Committee called on security agencies to do more to protect the lives and properties of Muslims and bring the perpetrators of such killings to justice,” it stated.
The council also expressed concern about the general insecurity across the including terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and ritual killings.
“More Muslims should establish private universities for the educational development of Nigeria as a whole and Islam in particular because Muslim students in some private universities owned by non-Muslims are being subjected to religious victimisation and oppression,” it added.
The council stressed the need for the right of Muslim women to wear the Hijab as ruled by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“The Supreme Court of Nigeria had affirmed the legality, legitimacy and rights of Muslims to hijab in compliance with Section 38, Subsection 1 of the Nigerian Constitution (as amended in 2011) which states, “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion…(either alone or in community with others, and public and or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”
“Therefore, Muslim women should feel free to wear their hijab and no person or institution should discriminate against them,” the communique noted.
During the meeting, the council called on Muslims to collect their Permanent Voter Card to vote for the “best candidates” while calling on the Nigerian government to ensure free and fair elections.
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