By Zika Bobby
A heated dispute has erupted within the Lagos Central Mosque, with the Baba Adinni, Alhaji Sikiru Alabi-Macfoy, condemning the Chief Imam’s decision to lock up the mosque’s offices and take over administrative activities. This move, he said, has prevented staff from working and halted executive council meetings.
This development followed the Chief Imam, Sheikh Sulaimon Abu-Nolla’s letter to the executive council, on April 7, 2025, notifying the council that he would be taking over administration of the central mosque in compliance with a court order issued by Honorable Justice Edward Alagoa of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, on February 26, 2025, “to take over the mosque’s affairs pending the determination of the suit filed by Alhaji Femi Okunnu, SAN, and two others.”
In his reply to the Chief Imam, Alhaji Alabi-Macfoy advised him to reconsider the decision immediately, as it was ill-advised and reckless, in the interest of peace and order in the mosque and “for the observance of all that is decent, honoured and good.”
“He should retrace his steps out of respect for the court and the Honorable Chief Justice Edward Alagoa who gave his gentlemanly advice for him to take charge of Ramadan Lecture for the duration of the holy month, in the interest of peace and harmony in the mosque, “ the Baba Adinni said.
“Perhaps, we should enlighten the Chief Imam more on the limits of the purported order from the court on which he justified the illegal action he has been taking in recent times, especially the ones since yesterday, April, 7, 2025.”
The Chief Imam is alleged to have also selected a 14-man “support team” that would run the affairs of the mosque with him.
Meanwhule, the Baba Adinni, along with other credible insiders, said most people selected by the Chief Imam “are outsiders,” having little or no connection to the central mosque. Some, they said, had radical ideologies that could be inimical to the interests of the mosque and could undermine the peace, harmonious coexistence and progress of the mosque and the Muslim ummah in Lagos Island and the entire Lagos State and beyond.
He warned that “the four quarters or communities (Isale-Eko/Idumota, Oko Faji, Olowogbowo and Popo Aguda/Brazilian Quarter) have spiritual, emotional and financial attachment with their mosque and have been nominating for centuries their representatives to the executive council, including the current one that the Chief Imam seeks to illegally dissolve, and would resist him.”
Alhaji Alabi-Macfoy said, “Their actions would be a gross violation of the mosque’s registered constitution and assault on over two centuries-old valued tradition, which had worked for them.”
He enlightened the Chief Imam that the court order “does not mandate him to lock the offices of the executive or any other part of the mosque,” saying, “He is just taking the law into his hands, and we shall report him to the relevant authorities.”
“We also advise the Chief Imam to open those offices forthwith. The said order, which, to his knowledge, is already being challenged, does not also mandate him to set up a parallel body to the executive council of the mosque. There is no order stopping the executive council from holding its meetings. The council is not, in any event, a party to the action. So, he should, please, caution himself.
“The Lagos Central Mosque is owned and controlled by the communities of Lagos Island; it has never been owned or controlled by any Chief Imam or any one person.”