Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

[Farooq A. Kperogi]

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

 By Farooq A. Kperogi

Twitter: @farooqkperogi

In my home state of Kwara, which used to be proverbial for its peaceableness and inter-religious harmony, recriminatory disputes over whether female Muslim students should be allowed to wear the hijab as part of their school uniforms in historically Christian missionary secondary schools that are now government-owned is fueling tension and fears of extensive internecine violence.

This controversy is personal to me because I’m a Muslim who attended historically Christian missionary primary and secondary schools in the predominantly Muslim Baruten (former Borgu) part of Kwara State. Anyone who is familiar with Kwara State would know that the Baatonum-speaking Baruten Local Government in the westernmost fringe of Nigeria’s border with Benin Republic is the state’s least developed, most neglected area.

The earliest schools (and hospitals) in the area were established not by the government but by American Southern Baptist Christian missionaries who first appeared in my hometown in 1948. Until the early 1980s, Christian Religious Knowledge (or, as it was called then, Bible Knowledge) was compulsory in Baptist Grammar School, my alma mater, even though the federal government had urged the take-over of missionary schools by the 1970s.

I was in the second cohort of students who had the latitude to take Islamic Religious Knowledge as an option for religious education in my secondary school, but the school still observed its Christian traditions (such as requiring all students, most of whom were Muslims, to sing Christian hymns in morning assemblies), and the Nigerian Baptist Convention still determined who became principal and vice principal of the school.

Sometime in my final year of high school, a native of my hometown who lived in Sokoto for decades and returned with degrees in Arabic and Islamic Studies got a job to teach Islamic Studies at this Baptist Christian Missionary secondary school that was now fully funded by the Kwara State government. One of the first things he advocated was that Muslim students should have a separate morning assembly so that they won’t be required to sing Christian hymns and listen to Christian morning devotion.

I opposed him. And I was supported by other students, more than 90 percent of whom were fellow Muslims. When the man discovered who my dad was, he was mortified and decided to have a word with my dad about his “Shaytan” [Satan] of a son.

To his astonishment, my father, who also studied Arabic and Islamic Studies and taught it at the by then government-funded Baptist Primary School, said the man was wrong to disrupt the decades-old tradition of my secondary school. He reminded him that American Christian missionaries built the school with their money at a time the government didn’t even acknowledge people in my place existed, and that in spite of decades of proselytization, Christian missioners didn’t get many converts.

He advised the man to use his education and vast network to attract Muslim entrepreneurs to build a Muslim secondary school in the community to compete with my alma mater. My father said he would only draw the line if the school had insisted that Muslims convert to Christianity as a precondition to be enrolled in it (he missed out on the education American missionaries offered in the 1940s and 1950s because he refused to convert to Christianity like some of his siblings did), but stressed that no knowledge is ever wasted.

More than a decade after this conversation, the idea that no knowledge is a waste materialized for my father’s much younger first cousin who attended Baptist Grammar School at a time Bible Knowledge was required for even Muslim students. He had A1 in Bible Studies, but still remains a staunch Muslim. Now a medical doctor in Kaduna, he was caught in the crossfire of the sanguinary ethno-religious upheaval in Kaduna in 2000 that pitted Muslims against Christians.

 In the same day, a Christian mob mistook him for a Fulani because of his light complexion and a Muslim mob mistook him for an Igbo for the same reason.

His entreaties to the Christian mob that he wasn’t Fulani was rebuffed by a counter claim that he was a Muslim because his forehead showed evidence repeated contact with the ground. He lied that he was a Christian. The bloodthirsty mob baying for Muslim flesh asked him to prove his claims by reciting John 3:16. That was easy-peasy for a man who attended Christian missionary schools and got A1 in Bible Knowledge. He escaped the jaws of death.

Just when he was about to get to his home, he encountered a Muslim mob baying for Christian blood. He pleaded with them that he was a Muslim. They insisted he was Igbo and asked him to recite surat-ul-fatiha, the first chapter of the Qur’an, to prove his Muslim bona fides. He said he could do better than that; he recited Surah al-Baqarah, the second and longest chapter of the Qur’an, instead, which most of his would-be murderers couldn’t recite. He survived.

I lived in Kaduna and covered the upheavals for the Weekly Trust at the time. When I visited him and heard how he escaped death by the whiskers from two groups of murderous thugs who claimed to be fighting for their religions, I recalled what my father said about no knowledge being a waste. 

Nonetheless, while Christian missionary schools have unquestionably done a lot to expand access to education and equip people with lifelong and lifesaving skills, we must recognize that Nigeria has evolved. Part of that evolution is the emergence of the hijab as a symbol of female Muslim identity.

In more ways than was the case when I came of age in Nigeria, many, perhaps most, Muslim women have been socialized to see the hijab as the definitive sartorial assertion of their Muslim identity. Perhaps precisely because of this fact, the hijab now stirs negative emotions in so many Christians.

 We need to have an honest national conversation about why the hijab triggers such extreme bitterness and hostility in some Nigerian Christians. Why has it been weaponized to stir bile and reinforce toxic prejudices against Muslim women when its wearing doesn’t hurt Christians?

In Kwara State, two separate court judgments (a high court judgement and an appeals court judgement) have upheld the rights of female Muslim students to wear the hijab as part of their school uniforms in schools that were historically owned by Christian missionaries but that are now hundred percent government funded. 

There are now only two options left for these schools: either appeal against the judgements by lower courts at the Supreme Court or obey the Kwara State government’s court-sanctioned directive that Muslim students be allowed to observe the hijab.

Instead, ChannelsTV reported on March 17, officials of Baptist School in the Surulere area of Ilorin, physically turned back hijab-wearing Muslim students from entry into the school in the aftermath of the Kwara State government’s reopening of former Christian missionary schools it had closed to protest the schools’ discrimination against Muslim students’ sartorial choices. The lawlessness by officials of Baptist School ignited violence.

Since these former Christian missionary schools are now public institutions that are fully funded (or underfunded) by the government, it isn’t reasonable to insist that Muslims enrolled in them can’t wear their hijabs— if they choose to— even after two court judgements say they can. That’s theocratic tyranny.

“State of harmony” is the number-plate slogan Kwara State cherishes about itself, but as Steve Goodier once said, “We don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note. Only notes that are different can harmonize. The same is true with people.”  In other words, it’s our ability to accept and live with our differences that can ensure harmony, not unnatural uniformity or mechanical sameness. 

Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

School of Communication & Media

Social Science Building 

Room 5092 MD 2207

402 Bartow Avenue
Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw, Georgia, USA 30144
Cell: (+1) 404-573-9697
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com

Twitter: @farooqkperogi

Author of Glocal English: The Changing Face and Forms of Nigerian English in a Global World

Nigeria's Digital Diaspora: Citizen Media, Democracy, and Participation

"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will

[Toyin Falola]

Farooq:

Same story in many other places, sadly even on campuses.

TF

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAPq-FWviDM-Jihrq9zZgAzW4QgULXzE_W%3DXRQ%2B9RqC9KNvRSxQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Farooq A. Kperogi]

Sadly true, Oga. I have no problem with private schools imposing restrictions on what students wear. Government-funded schools be open to all irrespective of their history.

Farooq

Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com
Twitter: @farooqkperogi
 

Sent from my phone. Please forgive typos and omissions.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/SN7PR06MB72476A0B7BDA74601CEEA2EEF8679%40SN7PR06MB7247.namprd06.prod.outlook.com.

[Assensoh, Akwasi B.]

Brother Farooq:

I often enjoy your posts! So, please what is the problem (wahala),  if the Muslim women want

 to wear their hijabs, while Christians or others, too, wear their agbada, suits, etc., even on Christian 

secondary schools? It reminds me of the planning of FESTAC  (1977) in Nigeria and a Negritude Conclave 

in Senegal. Several hard- core Pan-Africanists insisted that only true Pan-Africanists and Black scholars 

should be allowed to be presenters.

 

For the Negritude Conclave, then President Senghor of Senegal (as the "Negritude Guru") 

and other organizers (including Professor Abiola Irele, a "Negritude Scholar') simply concluded 

that anyone, who considered Blackness to be his/her cup of tea, the person was welcome; FESTAC 

organizers came to a similar conclusion, thanks to very radical (or progressive) leaders like Professor 

Wole Soyinka and others.

Yes, maybe Christian secondary schools, but the attendees (paying the fees) are not Christians

but Muslims.  What is the wahala if the Muslim women (as students) chose to wear the hijabs? 

We need tolerance and compromises, sometimes!

A.B. Assensoh.   



Reply

Reply all

Forward

D

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2021 9:58 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [External] Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

 

This message was sent from a non-IU address. Please exercise caution when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/SN7PR06MB72476A0B7BDA74601CEEA2EEF8679%40SN7PR06MB7247.namprd06.prod.outlook.com.

[Femi Segun]

FK,

Thanks for this great piece as usual.

When I read what Simbo Olorunfemi wrote about this issue on his Facebook page yesterday, I joined the conversation. My intervention went beyond the controversy to reflect on the larger purpose of religion in Nigeria. You are right to say that wearing the hijab has become a definitive identity issue for Muslim women. In my former Church, wearing a turban by sisters was regarded as a sacrosanctity to the extent that if a sister does not wear one, she is not considered spiritual enough to be a leader in the Church. A friend who is still a member of that denomination once shared an interesting story with me of how choir members from this church refused to sing with choir members from other denominations at a crusade organized by the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria in Abuja. The choir members from this church refused because the choir members from the other churches were not wearing a turban! The former only changed their stance when the General Overseer rebuked them and exerted his authority as the founder of the Church. I see uniforms as religious externalities. There is too much emphasis on this aspect of religion in Nigeria. To me, this explains why someone will be put on a hijab or a turban and still be cheating in exams or changing age  to get a job. The men who are urging women on these externalities in the name of sobriety and virtue are not different as they are the culprits stealing all the billions and fostering divisions and running the country aground. 

Is religion not supposed to teach virtue, honesty, and morality? Nigeria ranks as one of the most religious countries in the world, but this has not translated to morality. Is it not time to take the conversation beyond the externalities of religion as ask why morality and ethics have become so low in the country? In his stern rebuke of the Pharisees, Jesus told them in Mathew 23: 23 that they have omitted the greater matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Is this not the case with religion in Nigeria? Where is justice, where is mercy and where is fidelity in the land? The Christian revival in South Korea in the 1960s led to ethical rebirth and productivity. Why has that not been the case in Nigeria? The United Arabs Emirate is a Muslim country. Yet, that country has been transformed from a desert to an innovation hub. Why is it that our pious promoters of religious externalities not learning one or two things from these places? I agree with TF that the campuses are not different. Father Mathew Kukah referred to this during his interviews with TF about two weeks ago. How then can we build a nation-state based on a secular constitution which we claim to be operating when indeed the whole attention is on religiosity devoid of virtue? Does this not speak to the quality of our thoughts as well as our education when parochialism and narrow-mindedness continue to dominate national discourse? 

Femi Segun.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CO1PR08MB717323CD9D773AA4745EC21DD3679%40CO1PR08MB7173.namprd08.prod.outlook.com.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

“Hijab as the red meat of bigotry” is such an ugly and repulsive title to the eye of this beholder !

In the name of solidarity, “we” could be substituted for “they”, in this sentence:

“One of the first things he advocated was that Muslim students should have a separate morning assembly so that they won't be required to sing Christian hymns and listen to Christian morning devotion. I opposed him.” (Kperogi).

Brilliant. You opposed him. Even at such a tender age the budding mission school boy showed such purposeful perspicacity and wherewithal, he “opposed him” in defence of the Civilising Mission to the Baatonum-speaking Baruten on the fringes of Western Civilisation, somewhere near the border between Kwara and the ex-French Colony of Dahomey now known as République du Bénin. I for one am impressed and deeply moved by the young Kperogi’s presence of mind at the time. How brave ! Standing up for your rights! Don’t give up the fight! As Dr. King of Atlanta said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere!” The Southern Baptist Missionaries must have thought, “Bravo! That’s our boy!” I’m not sure, I don’t know but I have my doubts that if David Diop were to hear your story posthumously, he would not regret that he ever penned “The Vultures”. Just as any good (or even bad) piece of literature makes its impact on the reader, I daresay this history of Kperogi standing up for his rights merely tells me that - alhamdulillah - maybe, from the very beginning there was not a drop of terrorism in his Muslim blood, although, honestly speaking, I don’t think that even the young Hassan Kukah would have gone that far – not even to get tenure as Cardinal at the Vatican. On the other hand, if the rationale was that girls wearing Hijab to school would send the missionaries scampering and that all costs that local government area needed such schools, then it must have been a worthy consideration. But; I doubt that the missionaries would have departed just because Muslims wanted to do their Muslim prayers in peace and quiet, separately, just like Jews. The Missionary motto is not “ Cringe or starve”?

You Americans reminisce about your “High School” whereas those of us colonised by Great Britain remember with nostalgia the good old days at The Prince of Wales School, the secondary school, that I attended. We didn’t have the problem or the attendant bigotry that Kperogi thinks is so significant because, very simply, unlike the missionary schools such as the Sierra Leone Grammar School , the Annie Walsh Memorial School, Albert Academy, the Methodist Boys High School and all the other missionary schools in the country, our school did not teach religion or have religious knowledge on its curriculum and did not offer it at O or A levels.

With the dramatic increase in Muslim immigration, the hijab controversy has been raging in Europe the past thirty years. We had better make a clear distinction between hijab and burqa

The issue of hijab and other matters of identity, style, rights, freedoms which I support 100% should demand a lot more space just to kick some big buts, including those bending over backwards to please their paymasters. Suffice it to say that the Islamophobes are hell-bent on destroying Muslim morality which is the backbone of Islamic Civilisation, with their “When in Rome “argument and their desire to legislate a banning of the hijab, the type of essential modesty enjoyed by e, g. nuns. The enemies of Islam, would have no qualms about abolishing the hijab and replacing it with the bikini or better still replacing modesty with total nudity…

Ami Koita : Djiguy

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

a fine essay and a moving comment from femi segun

--

[Moses Ebe Ochonu]

My Facebook post on the subject:

I refrained from commenting on the Kwara hijab controversy because there have been contending and conflicting propaganda from both sides and unless one sifts through them to get the facts one runs the risk of being misled by wrong information and formulating one’s view on the wrong premise.

There is now definitive evidence that the Kwara State Government’s directive applies only to publicly owned and funded schools, including former Christian missionary schools that were taken over by the government in the 1970s.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a State Government, especially in a Muslim-majority state such as Kwara, directing that Muslim students who want to wear hijab on their uniforms be allowed to do so in all public schools.

It is also now clear that the policy neither makes hijab mandatory for all Muslim students nor requires non-Muslim female students to wear it.

The intent/scope of the policy is narrow: it only allows Muslim female students who are so inclined to include the hijab in their standard school attire ensemble.

The policy does not exempt female students from the wearing of uniforms or replace uniforms with the hijab. Rather, the hijab is to be worn over the uniform by female Muslim students who desire to do so as part of their sartorial religious identification.

The policy, moreover, does not apply to private schools, which are at liberty to set their own school attire policy.

Neither Nigerian law nor the basic principle of religious freedom contradicts the new policy.

Christian religious organizations whose missionaries established some of the public schools and which do not like the new policy can establish new schools that would be private and would allow them to implement a no-hijab uniform policy.

Alternatively, they can renew the long-running but largely abandoned struggle for public schools with missionary pedigrees to be reverted back to their Christian denominational ownership. But that is a different, national struggle, not a Kwara-specific one, and it is totally unrelated to the hijab issue at hand.

My sense is that the contentiousness of a hyper-competitive national religious marketplace is trickling down to Kwara and other states, where religious minorities feel under siege and are letting the paranoid national narratives of religious persecution and domination dictate their actions, reactions, and rhetoric.

There is justifiable outrage against policies in several Muslim-majority states in the north where Christians are refused new access to land to build churches, Christians’ sartorial choices and freedoms are curtailed and policed, and Christian-owned businesses (bars, nightclubs, burukutu-brewing operations, pork-serving joints, etc) are routinely raided and their massive investments destroyed.

In solidarity and in fear, Christians in states where they’re a minority (such as Kwara) try to domesticate their outrage and anxiety.

The problem is that in a local context like Kwara, that rhetoric may not quite fit the facts of the situation and may come across as irrational paranoia and even bigotry.

Outrage over perceived national religious politics and persecution and a guilt-by-association suspicion of local Muslim authorities should not authorize bigotry in a state renowned for religious tolerance and peace.

I have visited Ilorin a couple of times in the last several years and have raved publicly about its serene social peace and how I felt so comfortable and at home in the historically Muslim city. It would be a shame if Ilorin were to go the way of Jos or Kano, where recurrent, religiously-tinged violence has poisoned social cohabitation.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAGBtzfM7%3Dch9K6UpmrGytLMMysCpjkoST5Ru2nD6enSQRFuNHA%40mail.gmail.com.

[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

Oga Cornelius:

Your fears about bikini replacing the hijab had in fact played itself out on French beaches in the past couple of years when some French ladies protested the presence Muslim ladies at beaches, because they were not appropriately dressed.  Such dressing would provoke guilty feeling would it not?

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>

Date: 20/03/2021 14:42 (GMT+00:00)

To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

“Hijab as the red meat of bigotry” is such an ugly and repulsive title to the eye of this beholder !

In the name of solidarity, “we” could be substituted for “they”, in this sentence:

“One of the first things he advocated was that Muslim students should have a separate morning assembly so that they won't be required to sing Christian hymns and listen to Christian morning devotion. I opposed him.” (Kperogi).

Brilliant. You opposed him. Even at such a tender age the budding mission school boy showed such purposeful perspicacity and wherewithal, he “opposed him” in defence of the Civilising Mission to the Baatonum-speaking Baruten on the fringes of Western Civilisation, somewhere near the border between Kwara and the ex-French Colony of Dahomey now known as République du Bénin. I for one am impressed and deeply moved by the young Kperogi’s presence of mind at the time. How brave ! Standing up for your rights! Don’t give up the fight! As Dr. King of Atlanta said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere!” The Southern Baptist Missionaries must have thought, “Bravo! That’s our boy!” I’m not sure, I don’t know but I have my doubts that if David Diop were to hear your story posthumously, he would not regret that he ever penned “The Vultures”. Just as any good (or even bad) piece of literature makes its impact on the reader, I daresay this history of Kperogi standing up for his rights merely tells me that - alhamdulillah - maybe, from the very beginning there was not a drop of terrorism in his Muslim blood, although, honestly speaking, I don’t think that even the young Hassan Kukah would have gone that far – not even to get tenure as Cardinal at the Vatican. On the other hand, if the rationale was that girls wearing Hijab to school would send the missionaries scampering and that all costs that local government area needed such schools, then it must have been a worthy consideration. But; I doubt that the missionaries would have departed just because Muslims wanted to do their Muslim prayers in peace and quiet, separately, just like Jews. The Missionary motto is not “ Cringe or starve”?

You Americans reminisce about your “High School” whereas those of us colonised by Great Britain remember with nostalgia the good old days at The Prince of Wales School, the secondary school, that I attended. We didn’t have the problem or the attendant bigotry that Kperogi thinks is so significant because, very simply, unlike the missionary schools such as the Sierra Leone Grammar School , the Annie Walsh Memorial School, Albert Academy, the Methodist Boys High School and all the other missionary schools in the country, our school did not teach religion or have religious knowledge on its curriculum and did not offer it at O or A levels.

With the dramatic increase in Muslim immigration, the hijab controversy has been raging in Europe the past thirty years. We had better make a clear distinction between hijab and burqa

The issue of hijab and other matters of identity, style, rights, freedoms which I support 100% should demand a lot more space just to kick some big buts, including those bending over backwards to please their paymasters. Suffice it to say that the Islamophobes are hell-bent on destroying Muslim morality which is the backbone of Islamic Civilisation, with their “When in Rome “argument and their desire to legislate a banning of the hijab, the type of essential modesty enjoyed by e, g. nuns. The enemies of Islam, would have no qualms about abolishing the hijab and replacing it with the bikini or better still replacing modesty with total nudity…

Ami Koita : Djiguy

On Saturday, 20 March 2021 at 05:48:43 UTC+1 farooq...@gmail.com wrote:

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/096c566a-076e-4665-b602-4e6d70897451n%40googlegroups.com.

[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

The underlying theme which many  contributors to this debate are avoiding is how the two dominant monotheisms have hijacked the  soul of the nation imposed their structural zero- sum eschatology ( which are then gradually secularised) which is threatening to tear the nation apart.  The debate is surreptititiously inflected by the fact contributors belong to either of the two religious tyrannies.

Left to me the practice of either of these two tyrannies would be banned from Nigeria to give the country a genuine chance for peace and to allow indigenous religions find their rightful places.  So long as they exist with their specious promises of salvation the right indigenous  religions of the people will stand no  chance in the factorylised method of purloining of innocent souls, in thinly veiled aggressive battles of manichaean proportions.  But then I would be accused of replacing one tyranny by another by the paid officials of the proselytising forces.

Let no one tell me that the Quoranic schools and the Christian mission schools were established for purely altruistic purposes when we know that they were the preamble to the expropriation of the resources of the continent in which footsoldiers wanted to plant a foothold in order not to be outdone by their competitors

So, let it be said that the Battle of the Hijab is just another instance of crying louder than the bereaved on the part of Nigerians in both camps.  I say this on two grounds:

People in other multi- ethic and multi- religious contexts relate better than the monotheistic enclaves of southern and northern Nigeria where everything is reduced to war of religions.

First of all, some of my closest females today wear the hijab as part of their permanent dress code.  Until recently, I thought the hijab signified purity just like the convent sisters head scarves until one of my hijab wearing African close associates told me she broke up with her boyfriend because she cheated on him.  I confirmed with the Jewish boyfriend and attempted a reconciliation, but he said according to his faith that was one sin that cannot be forgiven.  I told him that was her way of saying she wanted to end the relationship ( he was insistent on her changing her religion before the relationship progressed further, she had graduated from university  and was getting older by the day.)

Another young hijab wearing female from the Indian subcontinent noticing that my behaviour to her was different from other westernised Africans and other westerners asked ' why did they hate us?'

I replied with what one of my mentors in graduate school told me: ' not everyone will like you.'  In other words if a set of people have been socialised to hate everything you stand for, because it is contrary to what they stand for, you dont have to do anything wrong for them to just hate your sight.

The second ground is for saying that Nigerians are crying out louder than the bereaved is that those who brought Christianity to them now allow the hijab in public encounters.  I give two examples:

In the 80s if a Black person goes to the counter of Barclays bank in London with a British passport to open an account, they will not open the account let alone give you a job.  Today hijab wearing personnel are at the front line counter, serving customers as if the situation has been in existence since the Magna Carta.  No one bats an eyelid.  The situation has been naturalised. A silent revolution has been effected by the New Labour party to which the current Conservative ruling party members are heirs.

I came to London on holidays from the US where I taught in 2006 to find a female police officer wearing a hijab as part of her uniform come on the bus.  My jaw almost came off the hinges ( the police until  then was the bastion of ultra- conservatism.)  Now it is routine to find police officers wearing Sikh head gears, dreadlocks and other types of hair do that were forbidden in the past, since this has got nothing to do with the performance of duties (I wonder when this will happen in the US.)  The number of Black and Asian officers have improved dramatically, with a current recruitment drive for more.

This is why I say Nigerian Christians and Muslims are crying louder than the bereaved.  Any students and teachers  can wear any head gear in any institution funded in part or in whole by any government.   If Gani Fawehinmi were alive he would have headed straight to court on behalf of the disfranchised female hijab wearing students.

If it is a private institution for wards of students from Christian families, that is different. Once the Education ministry allows it to go into operation as either Christian or Muslin denominational school, then dress code follows automatically and female Muslim students will not go near the institution anyway.

The reason Christian and Muslim religious ferment has not resulted in ethical and moral rearmament is that Nigerians are dollar or capitalist Christians ( symbolised in Pentecostalism) and they contest either for the supremacy of political Christianity or political Islam, where neither is concerned primarily with religious ethics.  

This was why I thought a ban on the practice of both religions will be the beginning of real wisdom in Nigeria.  But who will do that in a democracy in which both religions constitute the wingspan of the albatross weighing the majority of the populace in the country down?

Will the Muslim and Christian contributors to this debate among forum members subscribe to that?

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: Femi Segun <solor...@gmail.com>

Date: 20/03/2021 12:41 (GMT+00:00)

To: 'Chika Onyeani' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Cc: toyin...@austin.utexas.edu, Godwin Ohiwerei <drohi...@gmail.com>, rig...@yahoo.com, doy...@gmail.com, Dorothy Smith <dsm...@dillard.edu>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (solor...@gmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info

FK,

Thanks for this great piece as usual.

When I read what Simbo Olorunfemi wrote about this issue on his Facebook page yesterday, I joined the conversation. My intervention went beyond the controversy to reflect on the larger purpose of religion in Nigeria. You are right to say that wearing the hijab has become a definitive identity issue for Muslim women. In my former Church, wearing a turban by sisters was regarded as a sacrosanctity to the extent that if a sister does not wear one, she is not considered spiritual enough to be a leader in the Church. A friend who is still a member of that denomination once shared an interesting story with me of how choir members from this church refused to sing with choir members from other denominations at a crusade organized by the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria in Abuja. The choir members from this church refused because the choir members from the other churches were not wearing a turban! The former only changed their stance when the General Overseer rebuked them and exerted his authority as the founder of the Church. I see uniforms as religious externalities. There is too much emphasis on this aspect of religion in Nigeria. To me, this explains why someone will be put on a hijab or a turban and still be cheating in exams or changing age  to get a job. The men who are urging women on these externalities in the name of sobriety and virtue are not different as they are the culprits stealing all the billions and fostering divisions and running the country aground. 

Is religion not supposed to teach virtue, honesty, and morality? Nigeria ranks as one of the most religious countries in the world, but this has not translated to morality. Is it not time to take the conversation beyond the externalities of religion as ask why morality and ethics have become so low in the country? In his stern rebuke of the Pharisees, Jesus told them in Mathew 23: 23 that they have omitted the greater matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Is this not the case with religion in Nigeria? Where is justice, where is mercy and where is fidelity in the land? The Christian revival in South Korea in the 1960s led to ethical rebirth and productivity. Why has that not been the case in Nigeria? The United Arabs Emirate is a Muslim country. Yet, that country has been transformed from a desert to an innovation hub. Why is it that our pious promoters of religious externalities not learning one or two things from these places? I agree with TF that the campuses are not different. Father Mathew Kukah referred to this during his interviews with TF about two weeks ago. How then can we build a nation-state based on a secular constitution which we claim to be operating when indeed the whole attention is on religiosity devoid of virtue? Does this not speak to the quality of our thoughts as well as our education when parochialism and narrow-mindedness continue to dominate national discourse? 

Femi Segun.

On Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 6:50 AM Assensoh, Akwasi B. <aass...@indiana.edu> wrote:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CO1PR08MB717323CD9D773AA4745EC21DD3679%40CO1PR08MB7173.namprd08.prod.outlook.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAN_y-4o6UemxKvf%2BN5o1wmnO9Kx2JoBE7BOesyM2QJtOkGUmZA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Dr. Oohay]

A harrowing account. All religions are differently equal and should be related to accordingly, especially in academic settings (regardless of who owns or runs the schools). In this particular current case, the hijab makes the difference and this difference, a difference that educates.

--

[Harrow, Kenneth]

in its bigotry against muslim practices the french govt banned hijab bathing suits that had been invented so muslim women could swim. when the women courageously defied the ban, they were arrested and fined.

it took real courage for those women to appear on the beaches in the south.

the french govt under macron is appealing to lepen's right wing voters by repeatedly attacking muslims, their beliefs and practices.

under the phony banner of "laicite," i.e. secularism.

isn't it ironic that secularism whose enemy was the catholic regimen in the late 19th c became used as a weapon to repress a foreign religion for political reasons--"foreign" except that 10% of france is now comprised of muslims, mostly of north african origins, including in fact more and more grandchildren of those 20th c immigrants

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2021 12:31 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/DB6PR04MB29828B6E90E94663BA5387E5A6679%40DB6PR04MB2982.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

i agree with cornelius's conclusion, except for a minor point. the hijab is worn not so much necessarily for modestly, but as a sign of muslim identity. kippas are also banned in french schools, along w scarves etc. it is all ultimately in the service of a politics of the rightwing dominant majority, utilising notions of assimilation that are directly derived from colonial discourses.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2021 10:36 AM

To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

 

[Farooq A. Kperogi]

Chief Femi,

Interesting perspectives. A few years ago, I offended my fellow Muslims when I defended the rights of Muslim women who choose not to wear the hijab. In the column, which I reproduce below, I made arguments that are similar to some points you've made here: that we obsess over form at the expense of substance.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

CBN’s Aisha Ahmad, Misogynistic Bullying, and Religious Hypocrisy

By Farooq Kperogi, Ph.D.

Twitter:@farooqkperogi

At least two categories of (male) Nigerian social media denizens were disconcerted by the appointment of a Mrs. Aisha Ahmad as one the Central Bank of Nigeria’s four deputy governors. The first group said she is unqualified because her promotion as Executive Director by her bank was suspiciously co-extensive with her appointment as CBN’s deputy governor, suggesting that her promotion was done in anticipation— or as a direct consequence— of her appointment.

To lend credibility to their claims, they falsely said being Executive Director of a bank is a prerequisite for appointment to the position of CBN deputy governor, and that it is this requirement that inspired her rapid promotion. They also said her professional qualifications and experiences are ill-suited to the position of deputy governor in charge of economic policy.

The second group, made up of mostly northern Muslim men, said she was unworthy of her position—wait for it— because her formal western attire doesn’t conform to the Islamic dress code for Muslim women! One widely shared Facebook status update, in fact, defamed her as a “sex worker” on account of her dressing. That’s a prima facie case of libel.

While these groups are animated by different impulses, they are united by a common, gnawing patriarchal arrogance and unease with successful, high-flying professional women. I can bet my bottom dollar that had she been an older man, news of her appointment won’t even show up on Nigerian social media radar. As the father of three girls—northern Nigerian Muslim girls like Mrs. Ahmad, I might add—I have a personal and emotional investment in confronting and fighting the culture of misogynistic bullying of successful women.

So let’s examine the first group’s assertions. An online newspaper called TheCable, in an October 9 story titled “FACT CHECK: Is Aishah Ahmad really qualified to be CBN deputy-governor?” exploded all the claims of the first group. It pointed out, for instance, that Section 8 (1) of the CBN Act requires only that people appointed as deputy governors be “persons of recognised financial experience.”

 It does not require that bankers appointed to deputy governorship of the CBN be executive directors. “TheCable discovered that Suleiman Barau, currently deputy-governor (corporate services), was not an ED before his appointment in 2007,” the paper wrote. “His highest banking position was general manager… at the now defunct FSB International Bank Plc.”

The paper also mentioned my friend Kingsley Moghalu who became CBN deputy governor without any prior banking experience. Moghalu himself told me sometime ago that former CBN governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (now Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II) single-handedly recommended him for the job.

It’s also preposterous to argue that someone with a 20-year experience in the finance industry isn’t fit to supervise the CBN’s economic policy. That charge is not even worthy of engagement. While it’s true that Mrs. Ahmad isn’t the most qualified person for the job, she’s sure as hell qualified for it.

The fulmination of the second group is even more worrying because it merely scratches the surface of a deep, abiding problem in our region, which is the noxious fusion of disabling religious intolerance, literalism, and exhibitionism.

Religion in the Muslim north revolves around (1.) a sick, prurient obsession with the female body under the cover of religious decency, (2.) exhibitionistic preening of the rituals of religiosity without a care for ethics, truth, honesty, or kindness, and (3.) identity politics wrapped in and sanctified by religion.

You can lie, cheat, murder, rape, steal, and generally be a monster of moral perversion and you won‘t attract the condemnation of self-appointed guardians of religious morality as long as you observe the communal rituals of religiosity and mouth off familiar, stereotyped religious idioms. That’s why 200 tons of date fruits donated by Saudi Arabia were stolen and sold (during Ramadan!) by Muslims and there was not a whimper from people who get in a tizzy when they see a woman—however virtuous she may be—unclad in a hijab.

In fact, a three-term governor and serving senator from Yobe State (who introduced Sharia in his state!) was recently caught almost literally pants down—and with irrefutable videographic corroboration, too— in a threesome with two women who are not his wives in a cheap, grubby brothel. There was no outrage from the self-anointed moral police. On the contrary, most of them defended the senator’s right to privacy, and cautioned against exposing a fellow Muslim to ridicule. Between being unclad in a hijab and engaging in adultery—and being impenitent about it when caught, as the senator was—which is worthier of moral outrage?

On the other hand, you can be the very apotheosis of justice, truth, probity, honesty, compassion, etc., but if you don’t “perform” religiosity through your sartorial choices and through your public utterances, you’re the devil himself. In other words, religion is more about form than content, more about appearance than substance, more about cold structures than essence, and more about public performance of group identity than about the internalization and performance of genuine piety.

Every Muslim woman who falls short of the standards of sartorial modesty enshrined in Islam is invariably described as being “naked” and condemned as a “prostitute.” Such a woman’s moral character is irrelevant as long as she violates—or is thought to violate— this sacred sartorial code. But she can be morally debauched and be the proverb for cruelty, and she would be celebrated (or at least be allowed to live in peace) as long as she wears a hijab, knows her “place,” performs the identity rituals expected of her, and doesn’t make a public show of her debauchery. In other words, a Muslim woman’s entire worth is measured by her dressing.

Mufti Ismail Menk had these kinds of people in mind when he said, “When you see a female dressed in a manner that is unacceptable Islamically, do not for a moment think that she is lower than you spiritually. If you do that, you are lower than her. Believe me, that is the teaching of your religion. She might have a link with her Creator that you do not know about. She might have a heart that is tons better than yours. She might have one weakness that is outward, and you have 50 weaknesses that are hidden.”

The self-proclaimed male moral police who are fixated with what Muslim women wear and don’t wear won’t admit that if they, too, are judged by the standards and requirements of the religion they purport to defend they’d all come up short. All of us would. Most of them don’t lower their gaze when they encounter women (which is precisely why they pervertedly proclaim the “nakedness” of clothed women and assume them to be “sex workers”), they patronize banks that traffic in riba, have pre- and extra-marital sexual liaisons, etc. Why do they think their own transgressions are more tolerable and more defensible than a Muslim woman's choice to not wear a hijab?

This is not a repudiation of the dress code prescribed for women in Islam. It’s just an admission of the fact that we’re all imperfect beings. We all have strengths in some areas and weaknesses in others. It’s unfair to estimate people’s entire worth by just one weakness.

Mrs. Ahmad’s western attire might simply be what I like to call protective sartorial mimicry, that is, the survivalist instinct that causes us to dress in ways that help us to blend in with our immediate environments. Maybe she doesn’t even dress that way outside her professional circles. Most importantly, though, it’s not our place to sit in judgement upon the personal choices of a 40-year-old wife and mother who is almost at the pinnacle of her career.

Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

School of Communication & Media

Social Science Building 

Room 5092 MD 2207

402 Bartow Avenue
Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw, Georgia, USA 30144
Cell: (+1) 404-573-9697
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com

Twitter: @farooqkperogi

Author of Glocal English: The Changing Face and Forms of Nigerian English in a Global World

Nigeria's Digital Diaspora: Citizen Media, Democracy, and Participation

"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAN_y-4o6UemxKvf%2BN5o1wmnO9Kx2JoBE7BOesyM2QJtOkGUmZA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Farooq A. Kperogi]

Oga Assensoh,

I think the problem started from the federal takeover of missionary schools, which, in my opinion, was unjustified. But until this decision is reversed legally, it will serve the cause of peace if Muslims are allowed to wear their hijabs since the former mission schools are now fully funded by the government, and the hijab has become a symbol of identity in ways it wasn't before.

Farooq

Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

School of Communication & Media

Social Science Building 

Room 5092 MD 2207

402 Bartow Avenue
Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw, Georgia, USA 30144
Cell: (+1) 404-573-9697
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com

Twitter: @farooqkperogi

Author of Glocal English: The Changing Face and Forms of Nigerian English in a Global World

Nigeria's Digital Diaspora: Citizen Media, Democracy, and Participation

"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will

On Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 6:50 AM Assensoh, Akwasi B. <aass...@indiana.edu> wrote:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CO1PR08MB717323CD9D773AA4745EC21DD3679%40CO1PR08MB7173.namprd08.prod.outlook.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

to spell this out a drop. assimilationism is the 19th c european, especially but not only french, colonial policy. it meant africans needed to move on, move up, by renouncing african identity and culture and becoming good little frenchmen or women. many took this up in positive ways, like mariama ba or senghor for whom one could learn french and its culture without renouncing one's religion or culture, but the basis for this was clear, the belief in the superiority of european cultures and languages and beliefs.

that ugly side of colonialism was presented as a gift to africans. it is now more or less legislated as law in various forms in europe, especially in france. it partly means returning to colonialism not as a crime but as a gift, what the french called la mission civilisatrice, the british the white man's burder, the germans kulturarbeit

it hasn't really change for the entire right wing or even political center, but in france is perhaps the worst for its pretensions of openness.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2021 12:56 PM

To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/DM5PR12MB24563470FEF7F1E5B47842EEDA679%40DM5PR12MB2456.namprd12.prod.outlook.com.

[Salimonu Kadiri]

​The secularisation of Federal Republic of Nigeria is well pronounced in Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and it prohibits the Federal or any State Government in Nigeria from adopting any religion as a State Religion. Going to the Court to get approval to wear religious uniform in a government school is an abuse of court process, since the Constitution prohibits Kwara State from adopting any religion as a State religion. For the sake of guaranteeing secular school the government is right in seizing Religious schools so that it will be accessible for all regardless of religious belief. If every Kwara student is allowed to wear their religious apparels to the school, there will be chaos because besides Christian and Muslim faiths, there are many other indigenous religious faiths in Nigeria. At moment no students in Kwara controlled government schools wear peculiar Christian designed attires to school. Why then should Muslims be permitted to wear their religious attire to school, whether Hijab or others? Islam and Christianity are equal to Sango, Ògun, Egúngún and other numerous indigenous religions in Nigeria and if every religious group insists on wearing its religious dress to the school, I think Christians and Muslims will run away when they see Ògun, Sango and masquerade coming to school in their religious uniforms with all the palm fronds, charms and amulets all over their bodies. As long as there is freedom of religion in Nigeria, government owned schools should be free from religious etiquettes and practices. 

S. Kadiri  

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Farooq A. Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com>
Sent: 20 March 2021 05:16
To: USAAfrica Dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

 

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAPq-FWviDM-Jihrq9zZgAzW4QgULXzE_W%3DXRQ%2B9RqC9KNvRSxQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

Well, this is another dimension pre-empted by Farooq and Ken when they said hijab is for cultural identification like ordinary scarf or gèlè.

Are they wrong?

In England Hijab is freely worn at government grammar schools. Im not sure they would permit Ògún's màrìwò either.

What is amiss?

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: Salimonu Kadiri <ogunl...@hotmail.com>

Date: 21/03/2021 01:19 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (ogunl...@hotmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info

​The secularisation of Federal Republic of Nigeria is well pronounced in Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and it prohibits the Federal or any State Government in Nigeria from adopting any religion as a State Religion. Going to the Court to get approval to wear religious uniform in a government school is an abuse of court process, since the Constitution prohibits Kwara State from adopting any religion as a State religion. For the sake of guaranteeing secular school the government is right in seizing Religious schools so that it will be accessible for all regardless of religious belief. If every Kwara student is allowed to wear their religious apparels to the school, there will be chaos because besides Christian and Muslim faiths, there are many other indigenous religious faiths in Nigeria. At moment no students in Kwara controlled government schools wear peculiar Christian designed attires to school. Why then should Muslims be permitted to wear their religious attire to school, whether Hijab or others? Islam and Christianity are equal to Sango, Ògun, Egúngún and other numerous indigenous religions in Nigeria and if every religious group insists on wearing its religious dress to the school, I think Christians and Muslims will run away when they see Ògun, Sango and masquerade coming to school in their religious uniforms with all the palm fronds, charms and amulets all over their bodies. As long as there is freedom of religion in Nigeria, government owned schools should be free from religious etiquettes and practices. 

S. Kadiri  

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Farooq A. Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com>
Sent: 20 March 2021 05:16
To: USAAfrica Dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

 

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAPq-FWviDM-Jihrq9zZgAzW4QgULXzE_W%3DXRQ%2B9RqC9KNvRSxQ%40mail.gmail.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/HE1P193MB007667894347C1EEA8E284E1AE679%40HE1P193MB0076.EURP193.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM.

[Jimoh Oriyomi]

Mr Salimonu, what is the essence of court of Law in a constitutional democracy. If the action is an abuse  "of court process" let the parties involved approach the appellate court

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/DB6PR04MB29828A02CE42FD7CD69AC1DEA6669%40DB6PR04MB2982.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com.

[Femi Segun]

Omoba OAA

Banning Islam and Christianity may not solve our challenges in Nigeria. I once asked Alagba Salimonu Kadiri about the differences adherents of indigenous religions in Nigeria have made in their spheres of influence. In other words, while I agree some people have misapplied Islam and Christianity to satisfy selfish desires, are adherents of African traditional religion different? Can we solely blame Christianity and Islam for the evils we do against ourselves as Africans?  Has our indigenous religion been able to stop the campaign of calumny that we do against ourselves, the culture of keni mani and keni mato that is so prevalent among us, the destructive competition, the double face that we do to ourselves which manifests in destroying one at the back and laughing with him at the same time? Should we not look more closely at our culture and see how we can change the destructive aspects while preserving the good ones. Not that I agree with Lucian Pye and Sidney Verba who argue in their book on Political Culture and Political Development that we have an archaic culture, but I am just wondering if we should blame other religions while looking away from our own inherent contradictions. I once asked the Moderator why the various external attacks from Arab and Europe succeeded despite our famed magic and juju-he said it was the divisions among us that was responsible. Have we solved this problem of division? Why for instance is so easy for us to subvert institutions. No part of the world is perfect.  Gbogbo ibi ni a ti ko adiye ale but other parts of the world appear to focus on the bigger picture and allow individuals to excel why for us if it is not me alone, it should not be others. I would think these critical issues should occupy our minds with the aim of finding answers to them. Ire o

Femi Segun. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/DB6PR04MB29825354F947E1DC888B99CEA6679%40DB6PR04MB2982.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com.

[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

Addendum:

Perhaps what we should be canvassing for is a class action suit to allow the duopoly of Christianity and Islam in Nigerian schools to be broken in favour of the traditional religions that numerically outclasses them both, coupled with  public mobilisation of traditional religious worshippers.  

Children of Şàngó worshippers should be able to proudly  wear their traditional wear to classes anywhere in Nigeria to re- normalise their existence in the polity and put a check on these neo- colonialisms out-vying each other for infamy and making the country unlivable for all through their reciprocal violence.

Such traditional wears as palm fronds can then receive adequate attention to modernise using synthetic weather resistant materials.

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: Jimoh Oriyomi <oriyom...@gmail.com>

Date: 21/03/2021 11:56 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (oriyom...@gmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info

Mr Salimonu, what is the essence of court of Law in a constitutional democracy. If the action is an abuse  "of court process" let the parties involved approach the appellate court

On Sun, 21 Mar 2021, 9:55 a.m. OLAYINKA AGBETUYI, <yagb...@hotmail.com> wrote:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/DB6PR04MB29828A02CE42FD7CD69AC1DEA6669%40DB6PR04MB2982.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAP8anv2xf5viejCdw82zhGsW2u7YB0%2BC_ntdf2xaiK6BKVE-TQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Femi Segun]

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/DB6PR04MB29828A02CE42FD7CD69AC1DEA6669%40DB6PR04MB2982.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com.

[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

Omoba:

You are right in asking for inward search in traditiinal religion, but are the traditional religious worshippers responsible for the reciprocal carnage up North that is spreading invidiously southwards?

I am sure you are familiar with the word ' cultural capital'.  If the duopolists at the centre ( only the dishonest the monotheisms in Nigeria are now a front for commercialisation of religion), if the duopolists at the centre refuse to relax their stranglehold on the center stage how would traditional religion practitioners have the space for the inward soul searching you recommend as necessary for their renewal?  This stranglehold has now been inexorable for more than 400 years.   How can we develop the cultural capital of traditional religion if their own kind are being encouraged to see them as work of the devil.

The Arabs and Europeans succeeded through guile and superior weaponry against Africa and other continents such as China and India.  So Africa cannot alone be the whipping boy.  But when Africans want to follow the Asian example of cultural re- armament the continued treachery of dollar Christians continue to undermine them as does political Islam.

This is perhaps the persistent divisions the Moderator was referring to which is still with us till today.

OAA

.

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: Femi Segun <solor...@gmail.com>

Date: 21/03/2021 18:00 (GMT+00:00)

To: 'Chika Onyeani' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Cc: toyin...@austin.utexas.edu, Godwin Ohiwerei <drohi...@gmail.com>, rig...@yahoo.com, doy...@gmail.com, Dorothy Smith <dsm...@dillard.edu>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Hijab as Red Meat of Bigotry

This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (solor...@gmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info

Omoba OAA

Banning Islam and Christianity may not solve our challenges in Nigeria. I once asked Alagba Salimonu Kadiri about the differences adherents of indigenous religions in Nigeria have made in their spheres of influence. In other words, while I agree some people have misapplied Islam and Christianity to satisfy selfish desires, are adherents of African traditional religion different? Can we solely blame Christianity and Islam for the evils we do against ourselves as Africans?  Has our indigenous religion been able to stop the campaign of calumny that we do against ourselves, the culture of keni mani and keni mato that is so prevalent among us, the destructive competition, the double face that we do to ourselves which manifests in destroying one at the back and laughing with him at the same time? Should we not look more closely at our culture and see how we can change the destructive aspects while preserving the good ones. Not that I agree with Lucian Pye and Sidney Verba who argue in their book on Political Culture and Political Development that we have an archaic culture, but I am just wondering if we should blame other religions while looking away from our own inherent contradictions. I once asked the Moderator why the various external attacks from Arab and Europe succeeded despite our famed magic and juju-he said it was the divisions among us that was responsible. Have we solved this problem of division? Why for instance is so easy for us to subvert institutions. No part of the world is perfect.  Gbogbo ibi ni a ti ko adiye ale but other parts of the world appear to focus on the bigger picture and allow individuals to excel why for us if it is not me alone, it should not be others. I would think these critical issues should occupy our minds with the aim of finding answers to them. Ire o

Femi Segun. 

On Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 12:32 PM OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com> wrote:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/DB6PR04MB29825354F947E1DC888B99CEA6679%40DB6PR04MB2982.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAN_y-4p24EpGEgWLHDbh_vAX_-6m4bTh%3DL2urL7dvYNjNXRDWQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Salimonu Kadiri]

​Mr. Oriyomi,

Please note that Nigeria has no court of law but court of lawlessness and the practice of Constitutional democracy has been bastardised!! Normally, the case of wearing Hijab cannot be tried in any court in Nigeria since Judges are either Christian or Islamic worshipers and will always judge in their own interest. The Judges in the Hijab wearing case at the Government owned Kwara Schools should have rescued themselves from the case since they, the Judges, were either Christians or Muslims. Because of the partiality of the judges at the High Court and the Court of Appeal, they failed to understand that allowing a religious attire like Hijab to be worn in schools would only encourage other religious groups, in a multi-religious Nigeria, to wear their own religious uniforms. Why should Hijab be allowed and no other religious outfits?

S. Kadiri

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jimoh Oriyomi <oriyom...@gmail.com>
Sent: 21 March 2021 11:09
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAP8anv2xf5viejCdw82zhGsW2u7YB0%2BC_ntdf2xaiK6BKVE-TQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Indeed, “bastardised” is the right word Baba Kadiri!

And that’s all that the kuffar (and they know who they are) that’s all that they want to do to the hijab, when they say,” fkkk hijab!” or “to hell with hijab!”

The bird sings as the bard sang,

“It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not much is really sacred”

Since so far, the overwhelming emphasis has been on the fact that Nigeria is still a secular state, I wonder if students are free to wear their party identity symbols and other partisan paraphernalia to school, so that everybody knows who is who?

Wole Soyinka once issued this stern ultimatum and I suppose that if it was or were within his power he would have issued his fatwa in that regard, and please note that it’s not my intention to miss-represent his saying that either everybody should be allowed to have nuclear weapons or nobody should be allowed to have nuclear weapons. It’s another matter of what’s good for the goose should also be good for the gander. Of course, the current nuclear-powers-that-be would not be happy with what they would consider such an irresponsible statement from the Nobel Laureate cum Human Rights and Peace Activist, whereas countries which do not have but aspire to attaining nuclear weapons, at least as a deterrent, could gladly endorse Mr. Soyinka’s recommendation in the affirmative, that they should be entitled to their equal rights and be allowed to join the nuclear weapons club in the name of self-defence, so that the haves will stop threatening the have-nots with nuclear annihilation. Unfortunately, that is not always the case with the have-nots, as this sorry example of Nigeria testifies: When early 1981 the Nigerian Guardian published Patrick Wilmot’s article in which he advocated that Nigeria should start dancing some “mathematical rhythms” and should post-haste develop nuclear weapons in order to be able to talk sense to Apartheid South Africa, failing which it would only be a sad case of the lamb/ pussy cat discussing with the lion, on very unequal terms. Poor Wilmot had to go underground because the Shagari authorities issued an order for his arrest for saying such a thing !

Just in case one-dimensional man wants to ask, “What has this got to do with the wearing or not wearing of hijab to school?” - and of course if I mention Soyinka at all - it should preferably be about what Soyinka says about the hijab controversy, let me pre-empt one-dimensional man’s disagreeableness with this sober reminder that we are on the same page when it comes to equal rights and that as Baba Kadiri himself insists, “Christian or Islamic worshippers and will always judge in their own interest”, thus according to you, Soyinka himself as the son of an Anglican Minster and also a celebrant of Yoruba Culture must, by definition be biased, although, all I have done is to extend his nuclear weapons logic to this discussion in which it should be reasonable to hear him say, “If some students are allowed to wear their religious symbols to school, then all should should be allowed to wear their religious symbols to school, their hijabs, turbans, crosses on their chest or as earring hanging from their ears, their seal of Solomon and Star of David , although as you say, it would be quite a terrifying scene that you foresee : “ Christians and Muslims will run away when they see Ògun, Sango and masquerade coming to school in their religious uniforms with all the palm fronds, charms and amulets all over their bodies.” Like this one (difficult to tell whether he’s wearing religious or party symbols.)

I guess it’s sometimes better to remain anonymous. In another context I can foresee classes between Muslim students and Jewish students wearing their respective religious insignia and paraphernalia attending mixed schools in the West Bank, or even in Stockholm where such mixtures could start a war. As Baba Kadiri knows, nah wah O, that in Malmö Jews don’t feel free to wear their kippahs in public

Sometimes, I wonder,

what all the fuss is really

all about?

One word: intolerance

Another word; bigotry.

For your amusement only:

A short list of the different religions in relation to the excrement factor

Senegal : Best of Mbalax 2020

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/usaafricadialogue/wC05PXUBHwc/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/HE1P193MB0076F0FFB0EDA997205FF6D7AE669%40HE1P193MB0076.EURP193.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Correction : Should read, " In another context I can foresee clashes" ( not classes)

 To add to the multi-dimensional chaos, and in tune with the secular nature of the Republic shouldn't it be legal for students to wear their distinguishing ethnic emblems with pride and in dignity, no diggity : ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KL9mRus19o