Institutional bias against Muslims in Nigeria, particularly in the Southwest geopolitical zone, has again reared its ugly head, if the recent report on Lagos State University (LASU) info. Official Page is anything to go by.
In what is easily a glorious moment for the University, Lagos State and the country at large, which the record-setting excellence of Ms Aminat Imoitesemeh Yusuf represents, the university could not but expose its entrenched bigotry.
Ms Yusuf had posted a record-setting 5.0 perfect CGPA, never before recorded in the Faculty of Law of the 40 year-old year institution. It is indeed a great moment, as family members, friends and well-wishers have continued to celebrate the young lady for her ground-breaking achievement.
Interestingly, the great monarch, the Oniba Ekun of Iba, Oba Adeshina Sulaiman, hosted Ms Aminat together with her family and rewarded her handsomely for breaking a record of four decades.
While reporting the reception organised by the monarch, surprisingly, the institution through its official Facebook page ingloriously exhibited a high level of religious bias and bigotry.
In a story posted on Sunday, it started with:
“In what could be described as a confirmation of the words of the Holy Bible in Proverbs 22:29, which says, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men (KJV)”, Aminat Yusuf, the genius Law scholar who emerged the Best Graduating Student in the 40year history of Lagos…”
It is very disturbing to read that the report about a practicing Muslim lady who was hosted by a Muslim monarch began with a biblical reference! What is the correlation, one may ask? There’s absolutely no better explanation other than the fact that religious sentiments is deeply rooted in the university’s system.
Even if the writer is a Christian and the VC, Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, is a Pastor of RCCG, such a show of religious bigotry should have been avoided, especially when the celebrated lady is a Muslim.
The writer should have reported the event in its original form without biblical quotation, if s(he) doesn’t know the right Quranic reference to describe the golden moment.
If the institution can boldly do this openly, there is nothing that cannot be done to suppress the religious freedom of Muslim students and lecturers in a state-run institution. This is a pointer to the fact that Islamophobia is very prevalent in southwestern Nigeria.
While we rejoice with our sister, Aminat Yusuf, for breaking the Lagos State University’s 40 years record with a perfect CGPA of 5.0 from the Faculty of Law, we @Muslim News Nigeria call for immediate removal of the biblical quote and replace it with a verse from the Qur’an; in fairness to the religion of the celebrated scholar.
