MURIC Hails IGP On Hijab Approval For Female Officers

Human rights group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has hailed the approval of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, on the use of hijab by the female officers of the Nigerian Police Force.

MURIC in a press statement signed Friday by the Director of its Zamfara State Chapter, Professor Ahmad Galadima described the approval as a landmark development and the beginning of a new dawn.

The statement reads in part:

“The High Command of the Nigeria Police Force has approved the use of hijab for policewomen who are willing to use the Muslim scarf. The single-paragraph statement reads:

“The High Command of the Nigeria Police Force under the watch of the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, has approved the use of hijab for the rank and file of its female workforce. The approval is one of the efforts of the leadership of the NPF, to encourage freedom of worship and promotion of religious tolerance within the police force and by extension, the general public. However, its use is optional and must conform to the approved style and design. This will be a welcome development to many Muslims and accords with respect to the Nigeria Police Force. In many, other countries of the world, especially in America, Canada, Britain, policewomen are allowed to wear the Hijabs, as part of their uniforms”.

“MURIC hereby expresses deep appreciation to the Nigeria Police High Command, particularly the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba for listening to the pleas and advocacies of MURIC and other Muslim groups which have been demanding the use of hijab in the security and uniformed agencies for decades.

“This is a landmark development in the history of the struggle for Muslim civil rights. It is the greatest news of the century and the beginning of a new dawn. It is another bite from the dividends of democracy for Nigerian Muslims. With this approval, the Nigeria Police High Command has proved that it is keeping pace with global best practices in police formations around the world.

“It is an open secret that female Muslims in police formations (including their army) in Britain, the United States, Canada, etc use hijab with their uniforms. Nigerians who travel abroad cannot deny this. Therefore what the Nigeria Police High Command has done is not new.

“We advise wailing wailers to accept the development as a natural evolution in civil rights struggle in the country. It will be petty, parochial, and archaic to oppose the introduction of something that is already being practiced in advanced countries. Only those who want to deprive Muslim women of the dividends of democracy and those whose agenda is to keep Muslims in perpetual bondage will cry foul over the approval of hijab for female policewomen.

“It is only in Nigeria that religious harmonization has taken control of our thinking faculties and we have consequently excommunicated objectivity from our borders. The hijab does not interfere with the professional efficiency of the person wearing it. A Muslim woman who wears hijab has only covered her head, not her brain! Hijab is a crown, not a crime.

“It is also important to note that the High Police Command statement was entitled ‘Newly Approved (Optional) Dress Code for Police Women’. It is therefore meant for female policewomen who wish to use it alone. Some female Muslim policewomen who do not wish to use it are free to continue dressing the old way. This means no policewoman will be compelled to use hijab. We are deliberately laying emphasis on this to foreclose mischief and misinterpretation.

“MURIC appeals to other security agencies to approve hijab for their female Muslim staffers who wish to use it. This appeal goes to uniformed security agencies like the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Immigrations and Customs as well as para-military bodies and traffic formations like the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA).

“At this juncture, we are constrained to reveal that many female soldiers, policewomen, female traffic officers, female immigration staff, etc, who are Muslims, have complained to MURIC that they are yearning for use of hijab because they are not comfortable without it.

“We thank all those who have worked behind the scene in collaboration with MURIC, particularly the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and Senator Ibrahim Shekarau. Equally worthy of mention are various Islamic organizations in the country.

“We appeal to Nigerians to exercise patience and decorum in all their demands from the authorities. Violence is not the way to go. We will all get what we want at the end of the day if we can be patient. The keywords here are patience, advocacy, constant enlightenment, persuasion, dialogue, and behind the scene consultations. Nigerian leaders are not blind. They will respond positively when convinced.

 “This was the method adopted by MURIC in its struggle for hijab in the police and it paid off at long last. We carried no placards. We held no demonstration. For instance, as far back as three years ago, MURIC did coloured full-page advertorials on the matter in the Daily Trust of Tuesday, September 24^th, 2019, page 19 and The Nation newspaper of Wednesday, October 23^rd, 2019, page 35. The advertorial showed pictures of female Muslim policewomen from different parts of the world with all of them wearing hijab.

“We also sent a petition to the Nigerian Senate. The petition titled ‘Position Paper on the Need to Allow Hijab in the Army, Police and Para-military Agencies was dated 6^th January 2020, and copies were sent to the heads of all uniformed agencies including the presidency.

“It has been a long road in our struggle for recognition of hijab in the security agencies. Its approval by the police yesterday signals hope for our dear country, Nigeria. The wind of freedom is blowing.”