Prominent indigenes of Egbaland including the secretary-general of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) Prof Ishaq Oloyede have waded into the suspension of the Chief Imam of Egbaland, Alhaji Saad Bamgbola.
Oloyede, who is also the registrar and chief executive officer of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK), who is also the Baba Adeen of Yorubaland, Edo and Delta states, Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Ishola, are among the community leaders who urged the Muslim faithful to embrace peace and unity of the religion at this critical time.
They made the appeal to the entire Egba Muslim community yesterday to sheathe their sword on the consequent suspension of the Egba chiefs who took part in the matter.
Ambassador Ishola who spoke online from the UK to newsmen in Abeokuta, Ogun State in an effort to douse the tension, said he and Oloyede, as high stakeholders, had fully engaged all those involved in the dispute in serious peace talks and urged them to ceasefire immediately.
The ambassador further disclosed that they had persuaded all those involved to maintain the peace and not to take any further action that might aggravate the already tense situation.
He added that all those involved had accepted a ceasefire pending further action to resolve all the issues.
Ishola revealed more that steps were being taken at the level of the Alake of Egbaland for an enduring resolution that would promote peace, mutual respect and understanding among the Muslim leadership and followership within the Egba Muslim community.
The high commissioner, therefore, enjoined all Muslim leaders involved in the crisis not to issue or make further press statements concerning the matter until further notice.
He said it was in the best interest of Islamic peace, progress and prosperity that Islamic schism must be avoided at all costs in Egbaland, Ogun State and elsewhere in Nigeria.
There was confusion in Abeokuta on Tuesday when the news of the suspension of the Chief Imam of Egbaland, Alhaji Saad Bamgbola was announced.
It was reported that some notable Muslims in Egbaland had, on Monday, announced the suspension of Bamgbola, over allegations of “high-handedness, administrative exclusivity, mishandling of funds and conflicting of interest between his position as the Chief Imam and membership of another association”.
It was gathered that aggrieved Egba Muslim chiefs, led by the former military administrator of Bauchi State, Navy Captain Rasheed Raji (rtd) had on Monday announced the suspension of the chief imam and appointed a second-in-command.
Reacting to the development, the Imams and Alfas in the Egba community rejected the suspension of the grand chief imam by the chiefs.
They described the suspension of their leader as an “embarrassment to the Islamic religion and an act capable of causing religious war in the town.”
Addressing newsmen in Abeokuta on Tuesday, three principal chief imams who make up the other three sections of Egbaland, condemned the purported suspension of the grand Chief Imam of Egbaland.
They said only the council of Islamic clerics in the town had the power to appoint or suspend the Chief Imam.
They are the Imams of Owu, Gbagura and Oke-Ona Egba, Alhaji Kehinde Sulaimon; Professor Kamaldeen Balogun and Alhaji Muslimudeen Nasirudeen, respectively.
Speaking on behalf of the Muslim community after a meeting at Kobiti Central Mosque in Abeokuta on Tuesday, the Chief Imam said the suspension of the grand chief imam was null and void.
He said the suspension did not follow the stipulated process of appointment and removal of Imams in the land.
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