The All Progressives Congress (APC) Lagos State Governorship Candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Monday met with the leaders of various Islamic organisations in Lagos State.
He was taken up by the islamic leaders on issues of marginalization in appointment, and alleged restriction of Muslims to freely practice their religion.
Others are hijab, Islamic Court, Muslim morning assembly, a window for Islamic conduct of marriages, divorce and inheritance cases in courts.
Both Sanwo-Olu and his running mate Obafemi Hamzat were at the interactive session with the Muslim Community of Lagos State (MCLS) at the Lagos Central Mosque, Idumota.
Speaking on behalf of the Muslims, Prof Tajudeen Gbadamosi, complained about lopsided appointment of Tutor-Generals in education districts.
Gbadamosi, who is the MCLS President, said: “As it stands, there is no Muslim among the six Tutor-Generals in the state. The current situation is skewed to Muslim advantage and we hope the incoming administration would correct the imbalance.”
On freedom of religion and worship, which includes wearing of hijab, the Muslims leader asked Sanwo-Olu to make a clear policy to ensure enforcement of freedom of religion and worship.
He said: “There should be no religious discrimination or harassment in our public schools. Religious devotions should respect all, and must be encourage on school’s morning assembly. Morning assembly should be made equal days for Muslims and Christians. Officially, all schools must close at 12 noon on Friday to enable Muslim pupils and teachers attend Jumat service as this will help in religious moral building of the societies.
“Hijab must be allowed for willing Muslims students and pupils. However, this must conform to the school standard and adopted school uniform, More importantly, as we are still waiting for the Supreme Court judgment, we appreciate the State Government decision to uphold the Appeal Court ruling on Hijab, but not yet implemented in schools as the Tutor-Generals refused to pass on the circular containing the implementation. The Hijab issue might be major criteria among others for supporting any political party seeking the Muslims votes.”
He also requested for the implementation of bill passed by the 7th Lagos State House of Assembly on establishment of Islamic Court of Law.
“We want a window for Islamic conduct of marriages, divorce and inheritance cases in courts. Marriages conducted by Islamic centre and Muslim organisations be recognised and the creation of a registry to handle and register marriage conducted under Islamic Law,” he said.
On CodeLagos, he said, “During the last Code Lagos training, we noticed that Lagos State government approved 32 churches and only two Mosques as CodelagosOut-of-School in Lagos. The information on the application to register and approve training centres was only made to the general public after the government had approved the church centres. Since this is a capacity development programme, any government coming in must create adequate opportunity to the capacity of Muslim youths in Lagos.”
Reacting, Sanwo-Olu thanked the Muslim Community for thoughtful ideals in moving the state forward.
According to him, some of the things said are part of what “we are expecting from the people. You have done the right thing by presenting those issues to us. There is nothing like governance with the people. We will look into all issues raised and addressed them.
“We’ll be fair and transparent to Lagosians. You are an important stakeholder. We’ll not take you for granted.”
According to the APC flagbearer, his administration will make regular consultations with the religious bodies and other stakeholders in the state before taking decision on issues affecting the state.