Kwara State Muslim stakeholders in Offa and Oyun local government areas of the state on Thursday called on the state government to release the White Paper on the report of the committee it set up to probe the violence over wearing of hijab by female Muslim students of Oyun Baptist High School, Ijagbo.
On February 3, 2022, the violence that erupted in the school on the use of hijab by female students led to the killing of one person while 10 others reportedly sustained gunshot injuries.
The government, last week, reopened the school after it received a report from a panel of enquiry it set up over the crisis but has yet to issue a White Paper over the report.
Speaking in Ilorin at a news conference, the stakeholders asked the state government to ensure that the perpetrators of the killing and maiming are arrested and prosecuted.
Their spokesperson, Mohammed Nurudeen, said, “The stakeholders are asking the government to release the White Paper of the panel of enquiry set up on the crisis.”
The stakeholders commended the government on its intervention in the crisis.
However, it berated the government for not ensuring the arrest and prosecution of people they described as known perpetrators of a violence that led to the killing of Idris and injuring of some others during the crisis.
They also condemned the government’s action for providing what they described as insignificant amounts of money to family of the deceased as compensation and to the injured for treatment.
The group said that the government “unashamedly gave a paltry sum of N1m to the family of the slain Habeeb Idris and N200,000 only for the treatment of the 10 victims of gunshot.”