The Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) has dismissed as untrue misleading news that it has agreed to the directive of the Kwara state government to allow the use of hijab in her schools with particular reference to ECWA Schools, Oja-Iya, Ilorin.
The Chairman of ECWA District Church Councils, Rev (Dr) Vincent Akintunde, in a statement on Sunday, said the church was “totally against” the use of hijab in its schools, adding that it would use every legitimate means to fight for its God-given property and heritage in the state.
“We would like to put the records straight by asserting that ECWA is totally against the use of hijab in our grant-aided mission schools,” he said. “We wish to inform the general public that our initial concern was not the use of hijab.
“Our initial concern bothers on the ownership of the schools. Our contention is against the Kwara state government which allowed the Muslim groups which subtly introduced the issue of hijab to the case to distract us from our primary concern even while the matter is still pending in the Supreme Court.
“Following this backdrop, we consider the reopening of the 10 grand-aided mission schools and the permission to use hijab by the Kwara state government while the case is pending in the Supreme Court premature, ill-motived, and a gross violation of the rule of law.
“We consider the action of the state government on this matter an injustice, and we would use every legitimate means to fight for our God-given property and heritage in the state. We want to use the opportunity of this platform to say to the state government that ECWA will not accept the use of hijab in her schools under any circumstances and our schools should be given back to us.”
Recall that last Friday, government officials forcefully broke the gates of some of the 10 schools locked by the churches to allow the teachers to gain entry into the school premises for resumption as directed by the state government.
The schools were first closed by the state government on 19 February over a dispute about the wearing of hijab by Muslim female students in some of the schools.
The government announced that the schools will resume on March 8 with willing female students allowed to use hijab but later rescinded its decision to reopen the schools over safety concerns some parties in the dispute were not willing to accept the government’s directive.
Last Tuesday, the government announced it had directed the schools to reopen but must respect its policy that allows the use of the hijab in all public schools. At Baptist Secondary School, Surulere, Ilorin Christian parents disrupted the reopening by barring female Muslim students from entering the school on Wednesday. This led to a clash with their Muslim counterparts, leaving no fewer than 20 people injured.
