The Miss World competition is still to go ahead on 7 December. Although 5 delegates have withdrawn: Miss Costa Rica, Denmark, Switzerland, South Africa and Panama there are still over 100 delegates to “compete”. The Nigerian Government, desperate to play down the controversy surrounding Amina Lawal's sentence, (having a baby out of wedlock (no penalty imposed on the father)) has given assurances that it would intervene to save her once the legal process has been exhausted.
Amina Lawal, meanwhile, is said to have asked participants not to boycott the Miss World contest because “a lot of resources had gone into organising the pageant and it should go ahead”. She reportedly told press: “I heard of the boycott threat, but I just think they should come because nothing happens without God's permission”. She also added that she has not been pressurised into speaking against the boycott.
Muslim groups are annoyed that part of the pageant is being held during the holy month of Ramadan. An official of one Muslim group in the city of Gusau said protesters were planning “black prayers” and a “spread of plagues of curses and bad luck on the Miss World organisers and participants”. (Perhaps they could organise some positive prayers and good thoughts for Amina Lawal.)
ThisDay, a Lagos based Nigerian newspaper recently published an article which said that the Prophet Mohammed would probably have chosen to marry one of the contestants if he had witnessed the beauty pageant, which Nigeria is hosting next month. This sparked off riots by thousands of Muslim youths who have rampaged through the suburbs of Kaduna, burning tyres, attacking churches and setting fire to buildings. Schools and businesses are closed, but meanwhile, Miss World soldiers on.
Update: after four days of violence, relief and civil rights workers say that more than 200 people are now known to have died in violence between Christians and Muslims in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna. As the disturbances reached Nigeria’s capital, Abuja (and how many of you thought that Lagos was the capital of Nigeria) the venue for the Miss World competition has now been changed to London. It is estimated that more than 1,000 have been injured and more than 11,000 made homeless in the clashes. Civil rights activists said more than 20 churches and 8 mosques have been burned down in the city as well as a number of hotels.
The competition is scheduled to go ahead on 7 December, but in London.
President Obasanjo needs Muslim support when he goes to the polls in a couple of months’ time and does not want to jeopardise his chances of being re-elected. Where does this leave Amina Lawal? A vocal supporter of a contest that shows women in states of undress? Until Miss World has come and gone? And then what? How can this be allowed to happen in the 21st century?
