An Islamic human rights organization, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has called out the Edo State Geographic Information Service (EDOGIS) over the treatment of a Muslim lady known as Khadijah Al-Hassan.
According to MURIC, Khadijah’s application for a certificate of occupancy (‘C of O’) was rejected by EDOGIS because she wore a hijab in the passport photograph attached to the form.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, MURIC said the incident is another episode in the pandemic of Islamophobia that has swept over Nigeria in recent times.
The full statement reads, “The application form of a Muslim woman, Khadijah Al-Hassan, who applied to the Edo State Geographic Information Service’ (EDOGIS) for a certificate of occupancy (‘C of O’) has been rejected on account of the hijab she wore in the passport photograph attached to the form.
“MURIC strongly condemns the action of EDOGIS. This is another episode in the pandemic of Islamophobia that has swept over Nigeria in recent times. The stereotyping of Khadijah Al-Hassan over the issuance of ‘C of O’ is egregious, repugnant and unacceptable. It is religious apartheid taken too far.
“The Muslim lady applied for her ‘C of O’ on 12th December, 2022 and paid the required fee of N230,000. All her follow-up efforts yielded no results until May 2023 (six months later) when she was told that her application had been rejected because of the hijab she wore in the passport photograph attached to the form.
“EDOGIS authorities have turned deaf ears to all appeals from Muslim leaders in Edo State, including the Chief Imam of Benin City, on the legal status of hijab.
“MURIC appeals to the Edo State Government for intervention in this case. Edo State must not be allowed to become a home of pain, anguish and horror for Muslims. Hijab is part of Allah-given fundamental human rights of Muslims everywhere in the world, including Nigeria, but we are forced to cringe, shiver and tremble before we can be allowed to identify ourselves as Muslims in our land. Muslims are no longer free in this country. Hate preachers have turned Nigeria into a large slave camp for Muslims. It is worse than apartheid South Africa.
“The government of Edo State must not stand akimbo while Muslim haters and islamopbhobic elements use their positions in public offices to oppress law abiding Muslims by denying them the right to enjoy the dividends of democracy. We remind the state government that Muslims are also taxpayers in Edo State, and ‘C of O’ is one of the rights of bona fide citizens of the state.
“Besides, nothing in the laws of Nigeria or that of Edo State forbids Muslims from owning landed property. Unless something is done urgently to address the issue, we will be led to believe that Edo State has a clandestine agenda to outlaw Muslims in the state from possessing landed property, thereby unleashing a policy of deliberate impoverisation and vagabondisation on the Muslim populace.”
