The Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe has directed the Chief Imam of Ekiti State, Alhaji Jamiu Kewulere to dissolve the Shari’ah panel inaugurated by the central mosque in the state.
Ekiti State Government recently through its Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Dayo Apata (SAN) dismissed the Independent Sharia Arbitration Panel, insisting that it was unknown to the state’s judicial structures.
“Arbitration and/or Mediation issue is a Quasi-Judicial matters which are regulated by Law” in the State.
Apata said there is existing legal structure in Ekiti State comprising Customary Court, Customary Court of Appeal and High Court that have been handling issues relating to Islamic, Christian and traditional marriages and inheritance without any rancour or agitation.
The panel, which had three Kadhis headed by Imam Abdullahi Abdul-Mutolib, Imam Abdulraheem Junaid-Bamigbola, and Dr Ibrahim Aminullahi-Ogunrinde had at its inaugural sitting in Ado-Ekiti, adjudicated on two marriage-related issues.
However, Oba Adejugbe while speaking on Saturday during a meeting with Ewi-in-Council and the leadership of the Muslim community in the state in his palace, said the mood of the nation would not warrant the setting up of such a panel in the mosque.
He expressed concern over the reactions already generated by the existence of the Shari’ah panel in the state, noting that if not dissolved might lead to an avoidable crisis.
“It appears they set up a committee at the central mosque to listen to disputes, and they might have a good intention being an internal arrangement within them.
“But I told them the mood of the nation will not allow that to happen, and that they should revert to how our founding fathers were settling disputes in the past without setting up a special committee or panel.
“The Chief Imam is an intelligent person and a humble man and I have told them to dissolve the committee because if we allow that, the Christian and traditional communities might want to set up their own committee too and before you know it, it will lead to a crisis.
“So, nobody should go ahead with anything of such here and we will monitor them, knowing full well the central mosque is in front of the palace. No Shari’a panel in Ekiti State and the one they constituted stands dissolved forthwith,” Oba Adejugbe declared.
Speaking in defence of the Shari’a panel, the Chief Imam of Ekiti State, Alhaji Kewulere who is the president of the League of Imams in South West, Edo, and Delta states said the panel was set up to resolve marital and family matters in the mosque for the purpose of peaceful coexistence in the society.
He dismissed that external forces were responsible for the setting up of the panel as being alleged.
“All we want here in Ekiti is peace, we don’t want anything else apart from that. We made a committee to settle disputes among couples in the Islamic religion.
“Sharia is not what people say it is, for you to summon us to the palace it’s also Shari’a. We are using it to resolve issues.
“The reason for this Sharia is the issue of inheritance (distribution of will) and marriage, it’s very common among us (Muslims). We want to be using it to settle it among ourselves to avoid violence or crisis,” he said.
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