The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has cautioned a group of traditionalists against invading Iwo Town, in Osun State, to avoid crisis.
The Traditional Worshipers Association of Osun State has threatened to march on Iwo town for what they described as the Oluwo Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi’s disrespect for traditional religion.
However, the MURIC Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said on Monday in a statement that such will be open confrontation, invitation to chaos and disregard for the rule of law.
“The traditionalists gave a 21-day ultimatum within which the Oluwo must publicly apologize for his unguarded statements against the traditionalists or face the consequences. The group threatened to demand the deposition of the Oluwo unless the king met their demand.
“We will like to caution the traditionalists against carrying out their threat because of the implications of invading a whole city at a time when Nigeria is facing dire security challenges. Such invasion will tantamount to open confrontation, an invitation to chaos and disregard for the rule of law,” Akintola said.
He said that in the first place, indigenes of the city are likely to come out in defence of their king and which may result in a bloody clash whose consequences cannot be foreseen at the moment.
The MURIC boss also said that such invasion shows disregard for the rule of law because there is freedom of speech and anyone who finds Oluwo’s declarations distasteful or defamatory should go to court instead of embarking on a show of force.
“Thirdly, invading Iwo town may not go down well with Muslims in Osun State in particular and Yorubaland in general because Iwo is traditionally known as ‘Ilu Alfa’, meaning ‘city of Islamic scholars’.
“The planned invasion by traditionalists may therefore be seen as an attack on the base of Islam in Yorubaland,” Akintola said.
He expressed concerned that traditionalists in Yorubaland prefer to monopolize Muslim traditional rulers in such a way that the latter pay no attention to Islam and Muslims but concentrate on traditional rites alone.
“However, we note with satisfaction that the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdul Rasheed Akanbi, stands out among Muslim rulers in Osun State who manifests consciousness of his faith.
“He has taken giant steps to revive pristine Islam in Iwoland. He has also openly identified with Islam as his religion. We therefore have every reason to believe that this is the real reason for the planned invasion of Iwo town by traditionalists,” he said.
He also said that there is no reason why traditionalists should pick offense if the Oluwo identifies himself with Islam because he has not disallowed traditionalists from worshiping their gods.
He also said that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Section 38 (i) & (ii) grants every Nigerian citizen the right to worship as well as the right to manifest his religion freely.
He said the Oluwo is also covered by this constitutional provision and he must be allowed to ‘worship’ and ‘manifest’ according to his conscience.
He said, “Traditionalists have no right to insist that a king must be a traditional worshiper. The king is the ruler over all subjects in the town and this includes Christians, Muslims and traditionalists.
“The attempt to restrict the king to traditional worshiping alone and to attack the Oluwo because he is a Muslim is an exhibition of religious intolerance.
“MURIC appeals to the Osun State Police Command to take the threat issued by the traditionalists very seriously. No group, no matter how powerful, has the right to threaten the peace of the land. The police must be proactive in handling this matter so that the diabolical plan of the traditionalists can be nipped in the bud.”
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