A Nigerian Muslim lady, Maymunat Kelani has narrated how she was discriminated against on the basis of her Hijab by a real estate company, Revolution Plus Property, where she had gone for a job interview.
She made the disclosure on Friday via her Twitter handle @Maemunah___
Maymunat, in tweets monitored by Muslim News, said she went for an interview at the company on Friday, adding that, “Immediately I entered, the first question the HR (Aderinmola Olusanya) asked was, are you a Muslim? I said yes. Next thing she asked was, do you have to cover your hair all the time? I replied yes.
So I went for one interview today, immediately I entered the first question the HR asked was are you a Muslim, I said yes. Next thing she asked was do you have to cover your hair all the time, replied yes.
This woman said she’s sorry she can’t interview me that their company is a— Mae.eth ❤️ (@Maemunah___) January 28, 2021
“This woman said she’s sorry she can’t interview me that their company is a Christian company, they can’t allow me cover my hair @Revolutionplus1
“I see no reason why a Muslim should patronize your company since you can’t hire a Muslim because, this is discrimination at its peak, cause what? Where is the fairness here??,” she asked.
@Maemunah___ also copied two notable nollywood actors, Odunlade Adekola @Odunadekolade and Toyin Abraham @toyin_abraham1, who are the company’s brand ambassadors.
Christian company, they can’t allow me cover my hair @Revolutionplus1
I see no reason why a Muslim should patronize your company since you can’t hire a Muslim, because this is discrimination at its peak cause what??? CC @Odunadekolade @toyin_abraham1 where is the fairness here??— Maemunah (@Maemunah___) January 28, 2021
Revolution Plus Property reacts…
In its reaction, the management of the company said via its Twitter handle @Revolutionplus1 that her attention has been brought to the incident that occurred “with a certain MAEMUNAT O. KELANI represented by one @Maemunah___ on twitter over alleged religious discrimination.”
Clarifying, the company wrote, “Firstly, we apologize if we made @Maemunah___ feel uncomfortable in any way because human relationship and relationship building has been the major aspect that has kept us in business and we do not take this lightly.
5.Furthermore, we will like to point out that in as much as @revolutionplus1 is a Christian owned organization, we do not let this interfere with recruiting top notch talents as this is our primary goal during recruitment.
— RevolutionplusPropty (@Revolutionplus1) January 29, 2021
“RevolutionPlus Property is an organization with a wide range of staff from all religious inclination. We are rooted in policies bothering on fairness and equality and give equal fighting chance to all employees and prospective employees regardless of background, religion or sex.
“We will like to further state that we pride ourselves as an equal opportunity employer as 30% of our work forces are Muslims and are duly incorporated in our Management team. Furthermore, we will like to point out that in as much as @revolutionplus1 is a Christian-owned organization, we do not let this interfere with recruiting top notch talents as this is our primary goal during recruitment,” the statement added.
Stop diverting, do you hire people who cover their hair or not it's that simple
— Feyisayo (@His__effect) January 28, 2021
The company explained further that she doesn’t “Condone segregation or discrimination of any kind” but declined to confirm or deny the allegation levelled against her by the Muslim lady. Instead, she asked, “@Maemunah___ Do you know we celebrate Muslim holidays and even do promo during those holidays? #noDiscrimination.”
‘Your response is weak,’ Twitter fires back
The matter has sparked reactions on Twitter, with many tweeps asking the real estate company, if the incident happened or not? @amkmusty asked, “Then refute her claim directly. Did you or did you not tell her your company was a Christian company and you would not allow her cover her hair. She didn’t ask for the religion of your staff. It doesn’t matter to most regular folks. Respond directly to her claim. Simple!
Being a Muslim lady means you must cover your head. The fact that not everyone does it doesn’t mean that it’s not compulsory. It’s discriminatory and totally wrong. Muslims shouldn’t patronise them then. What has her covering her head got to do with her skills? https://t.co/SXJevTprld
— Brown Sugar (@Yettyclassy) January 28, 2021
A tweep @titilayo_oo replied the company, saying, “But u haven’t responded to d main issue, hv you? She mentioned d HR’ personnel’s name so, did he say it or not?Take it seriously because it reeks of religious intolerance. It makes no sense dt u claim to celebrate muslim holidays, have muslim staff but do not tolerate hijab.
@emkaydee, in his opinion, said, “The most unintelligent response I’ve ever seen from an institution. So you only hire Muslims who do not cover their hair? Yet you do promo on Muslim occasions to keep your Muslim customer base.”
Same set of people will condemn girls that shows cleavage and still have problem with someone who covers her's. Plus telling a Muslim woman"do you have to cover your hair every time"has to be the dumbest question a reasonable human should ever ask. https://t.co/YZ5ckQ7rOO
— PISCATELLA (@The_Danjuma) January 28, 2021
“This one doesn’t add up sha. You are supposed to apologize first before saying anything else. This your reply doesn’t even show any form of remorse,” @smilequeen_ofe
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We must find a way to reach our Muslim brothers and sisters to stop patronizing this company. It is very unfortunate that they are making money from Muslims but hate their religion.