Don’t create religious crises, Osogbo Muslim community warns Imam

From Lateef Dada, Osogbo

The Muslim community in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, has warned the Chief Imam of the town, Sheikh Musa Animasahun, against causing religious crises and urged him to desist from conferring religious titles on unworthy individuals.

Speaking with newsmen in Osogbo on Wednesday, the head of Alasaro Osogbo, Sheikh Sulaiman Akala, described the installation of Alhaji Muniru Raji as the Asiwaju Musulumi of Osogboland by the Chief Imam as “shocking and disappointing.”

Akala said, “This unilateral decision of the Chief Imam is not only disappointing to the whole Muslim community but also much unwholesome; thus, it is best considered as an attempt to create avoidable religious crises in an otherwise peaceful Osogbo Muslim community.

“In appointing leaders in Islam, knowledge, impact, character, manner, and pedigree of people are among the very important factors to be considered. Thus, the alleged appointment of Alhaji Muniru Adebayo Raji as the Asiwaju Musulumi of Osogboland is not only unacceptable but also very much demeaning to the collective religious sensibilities of the Muslim Ummah,” Akala said.

According to the Muslim community, Islam prescribes certain principles for the conferment of religious titles on people, principles that were followed in the selection of the Imam himself.

“It is on record that Alhaji Muniru Adebayo Raji, on 28th June 2023, allegedly played a role which led to a crisis at the Osogbo Eid Ground. He was also reported to have employed many divisive statements during the last political campaigns, statements that were considered by the public to be incompatible with the calibre of people who may hold such a sacred religious position in society.

“While we do not want to be seen as stating that being a politician is a crime, Alhaji Muniru Adebayo Raji is garrulous and such a carefree politician that he is felt by the public not to be sensitive to the native intelligence of the people of Osogbo. One of the instances of this low quality has led him into a legal crisis, where he is currently standing trial in Charge No. FHC/OS/60C/2024 between Inspector General of Police v. Munirudeen Adebayo Raji, pending at the Federal High Court, Osogbo.

“It is our firm belief that such a sacred Islamic position should not be conferred on just any person in the community. We, as an Ummah, find it difficult to relate what Alhaji Munirudeen Raji is with the roles expected from such a privileged position in the Osogbo Muslim community,” Akala added.