Reports have it that the authorities of the Umar Musa Yar’Adua University, Katsina, Katsina State, have outlawed any other religious or tribal associations on the institution’s campus besides the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria.
The institution’s acting Dean of Students’ Affairs, Dr. Sulaiman Kankara, conveyed the directive to all students’ clubs and associations that were operating on its campus in an internal memorandum dated January 17, 2017.
The memo was captioned, “Re: Registration of Students Clubs/Associations.”
Sulaiman said the new directive was part of the resolutions of the institution’s management at its 59th meeting, which held on January 10, 2017.
The memo read in part, “The Muslim Students Society of Nigeria is the only religious association allowed to operate in the university.
“All tribal and local government associations are prohibited by the university. Duly registered departmental associations should be allowed to operate, but they should observe item (I) above.”
However, sources within the university told Punch that that the new directive was unlikely to elicit any reaction when the institution resumes its new academic session on January 30, 2017.
“The university has never hidden its posture to be an Islamic institution despite the fact that it is a public institution,” one of the sources said.
But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Norrison Quakers, who is a pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, described the directive by the UMYU authorities as unconstitutional and one that could fuel crisis in the country.
Quakers, who insisted the directive was a specific affront to Section 10 of Nigeria’s constitution, called on the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to immediately, as the country’s chief law officer, take issues with the UMYU to stop the action.
