Kwara State Hijab Crisis: A potential threat capable of disintegrating Nigeria along religious lines if not checked

It seriously disgust me, am extremely disheartened and worried that what started as a mere controversy over the wearing and not wearing of Hijab by some students of a Missionary School in Kwara State that is funded by the State Government, would be allowed to degenerate and snowball into a dangerous dimension of violence involving Christian and Muslim Leaders as well as parents of the students to the point of inflicting bodily injuries on themselves.
I’m at a loss as to why would the Christian and Muslim Leaders who are parents engage in such bloody clash in the presence of the Students whom they are supposed to be a role model to. This is absolutely disgraceful, despicable and scandalous.

The controversial matter which I hear is a subject of litigation before a court of competent jurisdiction is pointless, extremely irrelevant, inconsequential, unnecessary and a misplaced aggression.
I don’t get it, why should such petty and trivial issue of wearing and not wearing of Hijab by some Students create acrimony, hatred and tends to even divide a people destined to live, co-habit and co-exist together forever until death parts them.
It is a shame that rather than rising against the fallen standard of education in the country and the inglorious position of Nigeria as the World Headquarters of out-of-school-children as well as the 3rd country in the world with the highest number of unemployed graduates, the religious leaders and parents of the Students were busy dissipating their energy in such senseless hostility and shameful macabre in the face of heightened insecurity in parts of the country.

Suffice it to note that since the Amalgamation of the Protectorates of Northern Nigeria and the Protectorates of Southern Nigeria in 1914 which brought us together under one union we have always lived peacefully together, co-habited and co-existed as Muslims and Christians.
It is instructive to note that Nigerian Muslims like their Christian brothers and sisters alike can easily adapt and acclamatize in any part of the country because we are use to living pececefully together as an indivisible entity. 

We need to ask ourselves these salient rhetorical questions, what has changed in the way we use to relate with ourselves peacefully?, what has suddenly gone wrong?, Why can’t we peacefully co-habit anymore?, what could have made our highly respected Muslim and Christian Leaders as well as parents of Students of the affected Missionary School in Kwara State stoop this low as to engage in such scale of violence on a petty and trivial issue of wearing and not wearing of Hijab by some Students of the school.

It is against this backdrop that I call on the relevant authorities particularly the Governor of Kwara State His Excellency, Abdulrahman Abdulrazak to rise to the occasion over this isolated Hijab-related-disturbances in part of that state. He must act beyond his current effort which has temporarily brought uneasy calm to the affected areas. The Governor must handle this highly sensitive matter dispassionately and fairly without fear or favour or ill-will, to forestall further escalation and possible spread of such ugly and unpalatable incident to other states.

I urge all sides of this shameful hostility to exercise maximum restraint, de-escalate the tension and rebuild the bridge of peace, love and cohesion that once existed amongst them.
Let us refrain from every acts or tendencies capable of causing further crisis or breakdown of law and order in the area.
Signed:
Emeka Idika Kalu, A concerned Nigerian,