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EDUCATION HEADLINES NEWS & LIFE

WAEC is provoking Muslims – Akintola

The Muslim Rights Concern has said that the West African Examination Council is provoking Muslims.

Its grouse with the examiners borders on the WASSCE timetable which, MURIC says, is anti-Muslim, saying it soaked Fridays with papers.

The group founded and headed by Professor Ishaq Akintola says in a statement:

“There are at least three clashes between examination periods and Muslim prayers on Fridays: Management-in-Living (2 pm, Friday 14th August, 2020); Literature-in-English (2 pm, Friday 21st August); Health Science (1.30 pm, Friday, 4th September).

“It is the handiwork of sadists and anarchists. It smirks of an anti-Muslim machinery oiled by the passion for hate and injustice. This is in spite of efforts made by us to guard against this kind of clash.

“Our message to WAEC is very clear and simple: Adjust your timetable and stop provoking Muslims forthwith.”

Reps to interface with Buhari, NGF on WASSSCE date
WAEC

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EDUCATION HEADLINES NEWS & LIFE

Oyo govt replies MURIC director on allegation of religious imbalance in board composition

The Makinde government in Oyo State has responded to an allegation of religious imbalance levelled against it by the Director of the Muslim Rights Concern, Prof. Iskaq Akintola, in the composition of boards across sectors.

Akintola had said that Muslims were not adequately represented but the government said this was untrue.

It noted that there were, indeed, more Muslims than Christians on the list.

The Chief Press Secretary to the governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, noted in a statement that there was no sign of lopsidedness in the composition of Governing Councils of State-owned tertiary institutions announced on Tuesday.
A statement by the Governor’s Media aide, which was made available in Ibadan on Thursday, indicated that there was no truth whatsoever in the claims credited to a Muslim leader and Director of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Prof. Isiaq Akintola, that the appointments came with religious bias against the Muslims.
According to the statement, an analysis of the appointments released by the government of Oyo State on Tuesday indicated that out of a total of 41 appointees named into the Governing Councils of the different state-owned institutions, there were 22 Muslims, while the list had 19 Christians.

Governor Seyi Makinde

The statement read: “It was illogical for anyone to imagine that in a state like Oyo, a government would play up religious differences and make nominations into critical institutions without sound judgment.
“There is no truth whatsoever in the allegation that appointments into Oyo State tertiary institutions were lopsided against the Muslims.
“A peep through the list of appointees would show that for Ibarapa Polytechnic, out of the six appointees, there were three Muslims and three Christians.
“The same is also true of Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, which had three Muslims and Christians apiece.
“The same is also true of Oke-Ogun Polytechnic which had three Muslims and Christians apiece.
“For the College of Education, Lanlate, there were three Christians and two Muslims.
“There were three Christians as against seven Muslims on the board of the College of Agriculture, Igbo-Ora, while the Polytechnic Ibadan had four Muslims and four Christians on its board.”
“We need to state it clearly that religious leaders must get their facts correct before coming into the open to make statements.
“However, no amount of spirited efforts by vested interests would succeed in dividing our people along religious lines. Our people are far too advanced to be deceived by such mundane sentiments.
“We can only advise purveyors of such unhelpful fiction to focus on other agenda that can assist the developmental agenda of the state.”

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EDUCATION HEADLINES

MURIC boss talks tough on ban on Jumat, others

Founder of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC),Ishaq Akintola, has admonished people feeling uncomfortable with the ban on Jumat and other religious gatherings.
According to Akintola, disobeying Government at this critical moment amounts to extremism.
He said in a statement:

“In spite of government’s efforts at sensitizing the general public on the need to shun gatherings, many Muslims are still calling our office asking us to speak against the ban on public gatherings so that they could observe Jumu‘ah service.

“Let us make our position clear on this. MURIC will not support any Muslim group or individual found contravening the ban on public assembly because the ban is in the best interest of citizens. It is not targeted at any religious group.

“Saudi Arabia cancelled all Jumu‘ah prayers. It also suspended ‘Umrah. For the first time in history, nobody is performing tawaaf at the Haram. In Kuwait, adhan (call to prayer) has been changed from ‘Come for prayer’ (haya ala al-salat) to ‘Pray in your houses (soluu fii buyuutikunm). But here in Nigeria we still find a handful of Muslims who insist on conducting Jumu’ah service. Do we want to be more Muslim than Muhammad (peace be upon him)?

“MURIC warns against extremist propensities. We all can see where Boko Haram has taken us. It started from little excesses like this. Islam is a religion of moderation. It is dangerous phenomena like Corona Virus that the Glorious Qur’an warned us against when it said ‘Do not make your hands contribute to your own destruction, but do good for Allah loves those who do good (Wa laa tulquu biaydiikunm ila al-tahlukah, Qur’an 2:195).

“We Muslims must face reality. The manner of congregational salat inside the mosque has all the likelihoods of infection. We stand shoulder to shoulder and feet to feet. There must be no gap between a worshipper and the man standing next to him. On the contrary, health experts recommend at least one meter between persons in social interaction in order to prevent infection.

“MURIC urges all Muslims to see government’s instructions on Covid-19 as necessary and beneficial to them. It is therefore in their best interest to cooperate. Zuhr prayers should be offered at home in place of Jumu’ah. The same may be done with the five congregational prayers where the number of those in the mosque is more than 20. However, we strongly advise praying daily salat at home with members of the family as domestic jama’ah.”