Muslims in Lagos, under the umbrella of the Muslim Community in Lagos State, have expressed their worries and wishes to the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
At an interactive session he had with them at the Central Mosque, Idumota, the Islamic leaders led by the MCLS President, Prof. Tajudeen Gbadamosi, spoke on areas where the Muslim Community felt slighted with the Akniwunmi Ambode administration while also acknowledging other areas it did well.
According to Gbadamosi, the Ambode government is not fair in its appointment of Tutor-Generals for the state.
He said “As it stands, there is no Muslim among the six Tutor-Generals in the state. The current situation is skewed to Muslim advantage and we hope the incoming administration would correct the imbalance.”
Other areas he commented on include wearing hijabs and need to respect time for the Jumat service on Fridays.
Gbadamosi said, “There should be no religious discrimination or harassment in our public schools. Religious devotions should respect all, and must be encouraged on school’s morning assembly. Morning assembly should be made equal days for Muslims and Christians. Officially, all schools must close at 12 noon on Friday to enable Muslim pupils and teachers attend Jumat service as this will help in religious moral building of the societies.
“Hijab must be allowed for willing Muslims students and pupils. However, this must conform to the school standard and adopted school uniform. More importantly, as we are still waiting for the Supreme Court judgment, we appreciate the State Government decision to uphold the Appeal Court ruling on Hijab, but not yet implemented in schools as the Tutor-Generals refused to pass on the circular containing the implementation. The Hijab issue might be major criteria among others for supporting any political party seeking the Muslims votes.”
“We want a window for Islamic conduct of marriages, divorce and inheritance cases in courts. Marriages conducted by Islamic centre and Muslim organisations be recognised and the creation of a registry to handle and register marriage conducted under Islamic Law.
“During the last Code Lagos training, we noticed that Lagos State government approved 32 churches and only two Mosques as CodelagosOut-of-School in Lagos. The information on the application to register and approve training centres was only made to the general public after the government had approved the church centres. Since this is a capacity development programme, any government coming in must create adequate opportunity to the capacity of Muslim youths in Lagos.
“The government should ensure that skill acquisition for women and youth is of great concern to discourage immoralities and laziness when they have nothing doing. The government should have a policy on dress code in all higher institutions since nakedness is the bedrock of immoralities. Concerted effort should be made to eradicate drug abuse among youths.
“Lottery promo and bet games should be discouraged as it encourages laziness. Appointment of sizeable number of women and youth to some enviable position to serves as inspiration to coming generation. Reintroduction of literary debating society into schools not only in English Language but in all Languages (Arabic, French and local languages) will go a long way in curb immoralities among the youth.”
In his response, Snwo-Olu commended the Muslim community for coming up with the issues.
“You have done the right thing by presenting those issues to us. There is nothing like governance with the people. We will look into all issues raised and addressed them.
“We’ll be fair and transparent to Lagosians. You are an important stakeholder. We’ll not take you for granted,” he said.
From Lagos Muslims, hard truths for Sanwo-Olu
