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“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
—Mark Twain
By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Osun State Eid-el-Kabir day face-off between Governor Ademola Adeleke and the former Senate Spokesperson, Senator Ajibola Basir, still remains a talking point in the polity.
Since the incident happened, conflicting accounts of an alleged breach of conventional sitting arrangement at Osogbo prayer ground have been reported by the media. Most of these have been tainted by the bias and prejudice of the handlers of the two gladiators.
To be sure, there is no hard rule in Islam about seat reservation either in the mosque or praying ground before the commencement of congregational prayer. While it is conventional in this part of the world for Muslim leaders to reserve seats for important personalities like traditional rulers, political leaders, or influential figures as a matter of courtesy, the thumb rule is early coming.
For instance, it is permissible for one who is in the mosque to put his prayer mat in a spot, go off briefly for expediency reasons and then come back to the spot, even if that is in the first row, so long as the Iqaamah for prayer has not been given. If the Iqaamah for prayer has been given and he is not there, then he has no right to the spot and his prayer mat should be taken away.
The evidence regarding this matter is the report narrated by Muslim (3179) from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), according to which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever gets up from his place then comes back to it, has more right to it.”
It is also recommended that the pious who memorizes the holy Quran stand behind the Imam in the front row, so as to help him in recitation, remind him when he forgets and replaces him during the prayer if something happens to him (like if his ablution is invalidated during the prayer).
Neither of these two conditions applied to Adeleke as far as the scenario that played out at the praying ground in Osogbo was concerned.
According to one account of the incident, Senator Basir had taken a seat in the front row before the arrival of Governor Adeleke. Trouble ensued, however, when an overzealous protocol officer attached to the governor’s convoy ordered the lawmaker to vacate the spot to allow his boss to move in.
As the narrative goes, Basiru obeyed the order in the first instance and moved to another seat in the front row. But the protocol officer remained insistent that he must leave the front row completely.
At that point, some worshippers became infuriated and resisted the attempted humiliation, arguing that Basiru is one of their prominent sons. In the ensuing controversy, Adeleke walked into the prayer ground raging with anger. In spite of the intervention of Asiwaju Musulumi, Chief Tunde Badmus, Governor Adeleke could not stomach what he perceived to be an insult or denigration of his office. And so he stormed out of the praying ground without participating in the two-rakat congregational prayers.
What subsequently transpired thereafter is already a familiar story and needs not to be retold here. Soon as the governor left the prayer venue, police operatives shut the gate, wanting to arrest Basiru.
In a spontaneous reaction, worshippers rose in solidarity with the embattled lawmaker and forced the gate open. Following the encounter, Basiru and other prominent indigenes of Osogbo observed the prayers and left the ground.
Expectedly, the two warring groups have been engaged in a blame game. While, on one hand, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has accused the Basiru of instigating the crisis, using his political thugs to cause public disorder, the handlers of the governor, on the other hand, are also crying blue murder, alleging foiled assassination attempt on their boss.
A statement by the chairman of the party, Sunday Bisi, accused Basiru of mobilizing heavy thugs at strategic locations at the praying ground “in a bid to launch an assassination attack on the innocent governor, whose sole mission was to worship alongside other Muslim faithful in the state capital to commemorate 2023 Eid-el Kabir.”
His statement reads in part: “Members of the public will recall an earlier security alert on an evil plot to destabilize the peace and stability of Osun State.
“The government particularly notes with shock and surprise the role played by former Senator Ajibola Bashiru who took over the space reserved for the governor at the prayer ground. All efforts to get the former Senator to vacate the space proved abortive.
“It was an attempt to forcefully remove Alhaji Badmus and Senator Bashiru from their seats at the praying ground and subsequent executive order by Governor Adeleke to the police to effect the arrest of the duo, which degenerated into the confusion that engulfed the scene.”
In the same breath, Governor Adeleke, while appealing for calm, confirmed that he had ordered the arrest of those responsible for the attack.
A release issued by the Chief Press Secretary, Olawale Rasheed, quoted the governor as saying, “My good people of Osun, I appeal for calm and urge us to continue to celebrate the Sallah festival in peace. I am safe by the special grace of God.
“I have directed security agencies to arrest those behind the incident and get them to face the wrath of the law. The Commissioner of Police has been directed to arrest those involved, no matter how highly placed.”
The question has been asked as to whether the appeal is really necessary if the situation had been maturely handled as the number one citizen who is well aware of his responsibility.
In the first place, prayer ground is not a place for political thuggery or unnecessary display of power. In Islam, congregational salat prayer is a social leveller. It is a humble way of showing humility and equality of mankind, as worshippers, regardless of social status, race or colour, stand shoulders to shoulders in total submission to Allah, the creator of the universe.
By storming out of the praying ground without participating in the collective prayer, Adeleke has placed his personal ego above the Islamic creed enjoining humility and total submission to Allah. The order of arrest placed on the Asiwaju Musulumi of Yoruba land, Edo and Delta, Khamis Olatunde Badmus, is also misplaced as it failed to separate politics from religion.
The political implication of this sad narrative is even more far-reaching and more consequential for the atmosphere of peace that is needed to deliver on the electoral promises made to the people of Osun State during the electioneering. It speaks to the urgency of the need to calm down the political temperature in Osun State. As the Chief Security Officer of the state, he should have been more circumspect.
For his failure to control his emotion at the movement of anger, Adeleke has laid a bad precedent for the youths who were present at the scene of the incident. What he seems to have shown by his action is that violence is the only means of resolving disagreements.
In the final analysis, he is the real loser in this avoidable power tussle. Of course, Basir is a former lawmaker, who is expected to live above board. But if he chooses not to, he has nothing to lose. In any event, he is not going to be called upon to explain any possible breakdown of law and order. Instead, the buck stops on governor’s table. This, Adeleke, failed to realize, while the embarrassing drama lasted.
Ademola Nurudeen Jackson Adeleke, best known as Ademola Adeleke, assumed the mantle of leadership in November 2022 after a keenly contested governorship election.
He defeated the then incumbent governor, Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress, APC. Before then, he had served in the red chamber of the National Assembly as a Senator representing Osun-West Senatorial District.
He was given his late brother Isiaka Adeleke’s senatorial seat after his death. Because of his psychedelic nature, he has been nicknamed the “Dancing Senator” due to his jolly demeanor.
