A former Senator representing Kaduna Central District, Shehu Sani has reacted to the trending controversial story of the newly crowned 18-year-old Miss Nigeria, Shatu Garko.
The former Senator showered encomiums on Garko for winning the pageantry without exposing her nudity, and for becoming the first to win the keenly contested position wearing hijab.
Garko’s emergence as Miss Nigeria last Friday has sparked some controversies as some Islamic organisations and individuals were against it.
Islamic organisation, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), on Wednesday, backed the Kano State Hisbah Board’s decision to question the parents of the 44th Miss Nigeria, Garko, over their daughter’s ‘illegal’ participation in the beauty pageant.
MURIC Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said no decent Muslim lady would participate in any beauty pageant like the Miss Nigeria contest, adding that the beauty pageant is not different from the television reality show, Big Brother Naija.
However, reacting through his Facebook page on Wednesday, Sani said Garko clinched Miss Nigeria with “honour and grace, defying odds, encumbrances and the norms and lifted the trophy.”
“Miss Shatu Garko wore hijab and won. She proved there’s beauty and glamour in decency. She disproved the charm of obscenity. She marched with honour and grace, defying odds, encumbrances and the norms and lifted the trophy.
“She is a model who can be a role model. It’s not about the pageant or the beauty. She won for all those who don’t believe that beauty is nudity. She won for all those who wears hijab like her. She should be appreciated by our puritans for threading a different or unusual path and emerging victorious,” Sani said.
