Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) yesterday said allegations that Nigeria was being “Islamised” is “false, baseless, deceptive, malicious and provocative.” A statement by MURIC’s president, Ishaq Akintola, said the organisation rejected the allegation as it had no substance. MURIC was reacting to a statement by some Christian elders under the aegis of the National Christian Elders Forum, NCEF recently, saying the country was being “Islamised.” Th e Christian group, which includes former military generals, also demanded the reversal of an education policy that brings Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Religious Knowledge under a new subject called Religion and National Value. But MURIC said the forum’s attempt to use the CRK and IRK controversy as a launching pad for its “tirades on Muslims” in the country stood logic on its head.
Th ey said both Christian and Muslim leaders asked the federal government under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to make the two subjects compulsory for students who belong to their respective faiths. “However, we are not surprised at this latest development because Christian leaders are simply behaving to type. Th ey have always been shouting wolves where there is none. Warnings against the ‘Islamisation’ of Nigeria is now an old song and nobody is interested any longer,” the statement read in part. MURIC questioned why the new alarm was coming just after the bloody massacre of an entire Fulani Muslim population in Taraba state, saying “NCEF feels frustrated that its plot to ‘Christianise’ Muslim children by using the old deceptive curriculum failed when government introduced a policy which grants religious freedom to all.”
“What is wrong if government makes Christian Religious Knowledge compulsory for Christian students while Islamic Religious Knowledge is also made compulsory for Muslim students? How on earth does that translate to Islamising Nigeria?” Th e organisation also alleged that there was a grand plot by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, to “divert teachers of IRK to teach other subjects.” “Senior offi cials in the Ministry of Education who are Christians are made to compromise their positions. Th ey conspire with CAN to neutralise teachers trained for IRK.” (Premium Times)
