Stakeholders Caution Monarchs, Religious Leaders Against Partisanship

Muslim stakeholders and the League of Alfas in Osun State have cautioned religious leaders, monarchs and other pressure groups against engaging in partisan politics that would undermine the rule of law.
The religious leaders warning came against the backdrop of recent calls from various quarters, including royal fathers, religious bodies, and pressure groups such as the Nigerian Bar Association, among others, for the release of local government allocations to Osun State.

At a press conference in Osogbo yesterday, the group’s president, Sheik Khozeem AbdurRaham, commended President Bola Tinubu for upholding the rule of law and criticised the League of Imams and Alfas, under the leadership of Sheik Musa Animasahun, over its recent call for the release of the funds to Governor AdemolaAdeleke’s administration.

The group said that, from all indications, what the Governor Adeleke’s administration is doing through all its deployed tactics is to call on President Tinubu for the release of “withheld Local Government Allocations” is nothing but a call on President Tinubu to shun the rule of law.

AbdurRaham accused the clerics of abandoning their spiritual responsibilities to act as political mouthpieces for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to him, it is shocking that the League of Imams and Alfas, who represented themselves to the public as speaking for the Muslim Ummah, could jettison the Islamic brotherhood by turning themselves into a religious mouthpiece of the Governor Ademola Adeleke-led Peoples Democratic Party at the detriment of the interests of other Muslims in various political parties.

“How could one reasonably comprehend the call of the League of Imams and Alfas directing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR to release the Local Government Allocations to the PDP-led Governor Ademola administration in Osun State against all the laws of the land as pronounced by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in July 2024.

“Obviously, the League of Imams and Alfas must not claim to be oblivious of the illegality involved in such a calling because the Supreme Court in AGF v. AG Abia granted financial autonomy to the Local Governments in Nigeria in July 2024. The Alfas should not be seen forming part of Governor Ademola Adeleke’s desperation to collect the allocations illegally.”

While commending Osun residents for refusing to be swayed by “government-sponsored lies,” the group praised President Tinubu for standing firm on the rule of law and ignoring alleged pressure from lobbyists and partisan clerics.