The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has frowned at the move to reopen Baptist High School, Oyun.
Recall that crisis has broken out, in the school, due to the alleged refusal of the authorities of the school to comply with the order given by the government, to permit the use of the hijabs in the schools across the state.
However, Baptist High School was reopened yesterday on the order of the Kwara State Government (KWSG).
The Islamic group has demanded that justice be done to the matter of the 20-year-old Muslim, Habeeb Idris, who was allegedly killed during the protest.
The group’s leader, Professor Ishaq Akintola, via his statement, on Friday, made a complaint that the murder case is gradually ignored by the relevant authorities.
The statement partly reads: “The Kwara State Government (KWSG) yesterday reopened Baptist High School, Oyun, where a crisis erupted in February 2022 due to the refusal of the school authorities to obey the state government’s directive permitting the use of hijab in all schools in the state.
“While we are not interested in disrupting the educational pursuit of the students, we are perturbed that no arrest has been made for the killing of 20-year old Habeeb Idris who was fatally shot during the demonstration outside the school’s gate by fully armed members of the Baptist mission who had assembled inside the school to prevent hijab clad female Muslim students from gaining entrance into the school.
“While we welcome the reopening of the school and fully endorse KWSG position on the government’s ownership of all public schools, we frown at the government’s silence on the killing of Habeeb Idris.
“Somebody inside the school shot Habeeb. It is premeditated murder. Otherwise what are gunmen doing inside a school? Four other students were macheted and they sustained varied degrees of injuries. Members of the Baptist mission were ready to kill in order to enforce their will not only on innocent Muslim students but also on the state government. They had the noun ‘murder’, the verb ‘to kill’ and they actually did. Those blood thirsty zealots should not be allowed to go scot free.
“KWSG in its statement said it opened the school in order to restore normalcy. But there can be no normalcy without peace and justice is the soul of peace. Unless KWSG is seeking peace in the graveyard, it must pursue justice by ensuring that the killers of Habeeb Idris are apprehended. The spirit of young Habeeb is calling for justice.
“We are asking the Nigerian Police to tell us why Muslim life is so cheap that nothing happens when a Muslim is killed but the police will spring into action the moment a Christian is the victim.
“We demand action from the men of Kwara State Command of the Nigerian Police. It is a lukewarm attitude like this which forces Nigerians to seek self help. It is responsible for mob action. Justice must not only be done but must be seen to have been done particularly where human life is involved.”