NIGERIAN MUSLIMS IRKED BY BANKNOTE

A new Nigerian banknote that removed an inscription written in Arabic letters has drawn the ire of the country's Muslim community, with activists linking the note's design to President Goodluck Jonathan's alleged disregard for Muslims – an assertion the presidency denies.

"The removal of the Arabic inscription, which is written in a language known in Nigeria's north as 'Ajami,' from the new naira note is very unfortunate," Khalid Aliyu, spokesman for the Muslim apex body Jama'atu Nasrul Islam (JNI), told The Anadolu Agency.

"This [the new note] is a slap on the face of the Muslims and a total disregard for their rights. We feel very strongly about this," Aliyu said, noting that, on the new note, the Ajami had been replaced with a symbol that some say resembles a six-pointed star, a sign associated with Israel.

President Jonathan recently unveiled a new 100-naira currency note, which does not contain the inscription in Arabic letters featured on the old one, but still contains the name of the money in Nigeria's three major languages: Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa. Use of the Ajami language, which is a local Hausa dialect that uses Arabic letters, predates the arrival of the British in Nigeria.

Frequently used in the country's majority-Muslim north, it is said that most of the African continent's pre-colonial history was written in Ajami.

Yet Jonathan spokesman Reuben Abati dismissed the allegations, denying the existence of any religious motivations behind the design of the new currency. "The proposed new naira note has nothing to do with religion whatsoever. It is completely wrong to accuse President Jonathan of being anti-Islamic on the basis of the design of the naira. He is the president of everybody, whatever may be their religious persuasion," Abati told AA.

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Nigerian Muslims irked by new 'anti-Islamic' banknote (www.worldbulletin.net/world/149352/nigerian-muslims-irked-by-new-anti-islamic-banknote)

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