Outrage for film featuring Nancy Isime, others wearing Hijab to rob banks

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has joined the Muslim community in Nigeria to expressed outrage after the unveiling of a movie poster that features actresses robbing a bank while wearing Niqab/hijabs.

In a statement on Thursday, the group called for the ban of the yet-to-be-released movie.

MURIC described the movie as “satanic,” adding that it depicts Muslim women as criminals and incites the public against them.

The statement by the Executive Director, MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola, reads, “An extremely anti-Muslim film has been released into the Nigerian movie industry. The upcoming film shows women in purdah brandishing weapons and robbing banks. It is Islamophobia taken to the highest level. This film is satanic, repugnant, and provocative.

“It is aimed at portraying Muslim women as criminals with a violent proclivity. The film is capable of inciting the public against Muslim women. It may also expose Muslims in general to public ridicule and opprobrium.

“We believe that the film is the handiwork of Muslim-haters and part of the plot to stop Muslim women from wearing hijab and niqab. The plot was hatched a long time ago, and its execution began in the schools. This plot was boldly and diligently confronted in Nigerian courts by Muslims until the highest court in the land made a pronouncement on it. This Satanic film is the latest effort in the war against hijab.”

Akintola maintained that the film is capable of setting Nigeria on fire if urgent action is not taken by the relevant authorities while urging the National Film and Video Censors Board to investigate and place an immediate ban on the coming film.

Recall that after the movie poster was shared on Facebook, Muslims threatened to file a complaint with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, seeking action against the account responsible for sharing what they described as “Islamophobic content”.

A Facebook user named Latifat Adewunmi Jumah slammed the movie, saying, “The niqab/hijab is not an armed robbery attire! The niqab/hijab is not an attire for concealing identity.

“If you needed to conceal your identity for a perfect robbery role, you could have used a nose mask or worn a mask. Why wear Islamic attire?

“I find this offensive. Something needs to be done to stop this people. Niqab/Hijab is not a costume, neither is it a joke.”

Another Facebook user, Alfa Shehu, wrote, “And one of our brothers from Ilorin is kuku in the movie with them. Hypocrites! It is these same people who will turn around tomorrow and say women in Niqab are doing this and doing that. Awon alarun opolo gbogbo. Anything for clouts and monetisation.”