The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned as racism and an intolerable crime the destruction of a Christian Centre in Ilorin by individuals allegedly sent by the Ilorin Emirate Council in Kwara State.
The rights group has called on the police to arrest these Islamic extremists and charge them with arson. HURIWA stated that Ilorin is in Nigeria and is subject to the country’s laws, not Shariah law.
In the same vein, the group also condemned the prohibition of erecting Christian worship centres in universities in Northern Nigeria. They have asked that federal allocations from the federation account to such schools be suspended pending their compliance with the constitutional principles and provisions that specify Nigeria as a multireligious sovereign entity.
HURIWA was reacting to a statement made by the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Rev. Fr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, who expressed concern about the prohibition of erecting Christian worship centres in Nigerian universities, particularly federally owned and funded universities in the deep North of Nigeria. He described it as a decline in diversity and meritocracy.
The cleric said, “A mosque was constructed at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I delivered a convocation lecture in Calabar three weeks ago. After my lecture, the Chief Imam of the university came to congratulate me.
“But as I speak to you, Usmanu Dan Fodio University, which is over 40 years old, Bayero University, and other universities in northern Nigeria have decided to close their doors to the possibility of churches being built in the universities across this country.
“All this fanaticism we are seeing is expressed in public life. If students in the university or at the point of their growing up are not allowed to integrate and interrelate, and if churches or mosques cannot be built across this country, then there is a problem.
“There was a time when Ahmadu Bello University had lecturers from different parts of the world. Now, look at what has happened to our universities across Nigeria. Our universities have become just mere incubators of ethnic jingoism.
“So, I do not know which federally funded university you will name that has a vice chancellor who is not a local boy.
“So the universities themselves have become playgrounds for the ambitions of the local elite. The question is: Why should a place of worship be a problem for a university, whether it is for the Muslim students in Calabar or the Christian students in Sokoto?
“I approached the Minister of Education about this. I have a letter from the Nigerian Universities Commission. Universities in northern Nigeria have refused to implement this recommendation,” Bishop Kukah concluded.
HURIWA is therefore asking the National Assembly and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take action to enable Christian students to have their churches built by the schools, which also build mosques.
