Have you not seen how Allah has presented the parable of good deed like that of a fruitful tree which roots are firmly planted in the earth while foliage sprout gorgeously into the firmaments of the sky, yielding (edible) fruits every season by Allah’s permission? Allah addresses humans in parables that they may be mindful (of their deeds)”
Qur’an 14 verse 24.
It was a gathering of who is who among the Muslim leaders of the Southwest Nigeria last Sunday. The venue was the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan. And the event was that of the General Assembly, the first of its kind since the body came into existence seven years ago. Present at the Assembly were leaders and delegates of the Muslim State Councils /Communities, Muslim traditional rulers, representatives of the League of Imams and Alfas, including the Chief Imam of Ibadan as well as the Chief Executives of all prominent Muslim Organisations and professionals in the region.
Chaired by the Acting President of MUSWEN, Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin JSC (rtd) CON, CFR, LLD who officially declared the whole day session open, the Assembly considered some important issues affecting the Ummah and summarised such issues in a communique that captured the thoughts and feelings of the Southwest Muslims about Nigeria thus:
Communique
“The first General Assembly of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria was held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, under the Chairmanship of MUSWEN’s Ag. President, Justice Tijani Bolarinwa Babalakin JSC (retired), CON, CFR, LLD.
MUSWEN is the umbrella body for all State Muslim Councils/ Communities, Muslim Organisations and Muslim professional bodies in the Southwest of Nigeria.
The General Assembly was well attended by eminent Muslim men and women leaders from the six states of the Southwest Region.
Observations
Given the current economic, political and religious situation in Nigeria, MUSWEN, through an appraisal at its first General Assembly observed as follows:
•That the Southwest of Nigeria has a preponderance of Muslim population which forms a great workforce that helps in maintaining the perennial peace of the region despite constant unwarranted
provocations from certain quarters.
•That the situation of insecurity in the country today has reached such a dangerous stage where some ethnic groups and individuals are openly threatening the already fragile peace in the land without minding the implications and consequences of such threats.
Religious leaders and politicians
•That some religious leaders in the country who are supposed to use their good offices to douse any religious tension as ordained by our various faiths refuse to live above board by clandestinely fueling unnecessary antagonism and mutual suspicion among the populace through their inflammatory utterances to the detriment of peace and tranquility.
•That the public conducts of some politicians especially in the Southwest of Nigeria has become a serious embarrassment and big threat to the peaceful coexistence of the people in the region.
•That majority of Nigerian youths, today, especially those of the Southwest, who possess qualitative education and physical ability to contribute meaningfully to the region’s economic fortune are jobless for no fault of theirs.
Resolutions
Consequent upon the aforementioned observations therefore, MUSWEN’s
General Assembly, resolved as follows:
1.That the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria totally condemned the bloody and destructive activities of Boko Haram insurgents who are masquerading under the garb of Islam to perpetrate unprecedented atrocities in some parts of the country. Islam stands for peace in all its ramifications and the perpetrators of such atrocities can only be called renegades as their actions are grossly antithetical to the tenets of Islam.
2.That the Federal Government should quickly devise a means not only of addressing the fundamental causes of insecurity in the land (i. e joblessness, poverty and corruption) but also of rescuing the Chibok children criminally abducted by Boko Haram insurgents and thereby bring relief to the distressed parents of those children as well as all the internally displaced people in the Northeast region.
Special prayer
3.That all Muslims in the Southwest region should organise a special prayer in all Mosques on Sunday, February 1, for a successful conduct of the forthcoming elections and peaceful coexistence of all Nigerians now and in future.
4.That all Muslims in the Southwest region should endeavour to obtain their permanent voter cards in order to participate effectively in the current democratic process through the forthcoming general elections.
Self-arrogated groups
5.That certain non Muslim groups in the Southwest who have been parading themselves as the representatives of the region under different names and disguises to the exclusion of the multitudinous Muslims, (as demonstrated in the case of nomination of delegates to the last National Confab where Muslims were totally marginalised) should stop such arrogation henceforth in order to sustain the existing peace in the region.
Dwindling economy
6.That in view of the current dwindling income from Nigeria’s mono economic standing represented by petroleum, a veritable and effective agricultural policy aimed at engaging millions of idle Nigerian youths as a way of curbing unnecessary restiveness among those youths becomes a matter of urgent necessity.
7.That to further advance the country’s economic tentacle, both the federal and state governments should immediately embark on massive training and provision of tools for Nigerian youths of various categories to enable them become entrepreneurial in their own right through artisan-ship thereby propelling their economic wherewithal if only to minimise the spate of idleness that engenders insecurity in the country.
INEC’s neutrality
8.That the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) should maintain neutrality in the coming general elections and ensure impartial conduct of those elections starting with distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) while politicians should cooperate with INEC by maintaining peace and tranquility in the country before, during and after the elections.
New leadership
9. That the General Assembly of MUSWEN has elected the erstwhile acting Deputy President, Chief (Dr.) Saka Olayiwola Babalola, CON, FFP, DSC (Honoris Causa), popularly known as Chief SOB, as MUSWEN’ substantive President for a renewable three years tenure. Some Committee Chairmen were also elected while the ratification of the Board of Trustees and membership of the Central Working Committee (CWC) was also done along with the affirmation of the adoption of MUSWEN’s constitution. All the Chairmen, Secretaries of Muslim Organisations as well as the elected and ratified Committee Chairmen are automatic members of the CWC.
Departed souls
10.That in its deliberations, the General Assembly of MUSWEN remembered and prayed for the souls of the Muslim leaders who have departed this world, including Professor Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa (the first President of MUSWEN); Alhaji Abdul Azeez Arisekola Alao (the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland and Deputy President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) who was also a trustee of MUSWEN; Sheikh Mustapah Ajisafe, the President of the League of Imams and Alfas in the Southwest region as well as a host of other demised prominent Muslim leaders. The communique was jointly signed by the new President, Chief (Dr.) S. O. Babalola, CON, DSC and the Executive Secretary, Professor D. O. S. Noibi, OBE, FIAC, FISN.
About MUSWEN
For those who did not know, Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN) is the umbrella body for all Muslim organisations and institutions operating in the Southwest geographical zone. This is the area comprising the present Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo states.
The idea of forming MUSWEN as the umbrella body for the Southwest Muslims started in March 2004 at the instance of ‘The Companion’, a Lagos based Organisation of Muslim business and professional youth elite. The body was inaugurated in Ibadan on August 10, 2008 with the attendance of virtually all the front line Muslim Obas and Chieftains.
His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto was the Special Guest of Honour on that occasion where all Muslim organisations in the Southwest were duly represented not as guests but as full members. Their presence indicated their commitments.
Vision
MUSWEN’s vision is of a united and effective voice for Muslims in the region under a strong, veritable and collective leadership. This had eluded the region for a very long time but the right time has come.
The overall aim is not just to raise the profile of the Muslims in this part of the country but also to imbue the Muslim youth of the region with the necessary Islamic ethics that will enable them live as true Muslims as ordained by the Qur’an and Sunnah.
The present situation of Muslims in which youths are still largely not educated at a benefiting level is quite unfortunate and intolerable. It is in order to end this gloomy situation and ignite a glow of hope that MUSWEN came to life as a formidable platform for the Muslims of the South West to prove their mettle.
But why is MUSWEN so named and why is it restricted to the Southwest of Nigeria?
The history of Islam and the conditions of the Muslims in the Southwest Nigeria are so unique that they require a special and appropriate attention. The presence of Islam among the Yoruba people who inhabit the area now called Southwest that even extended to the present day Kwara and Kogi dates back to centuries before the advent of Christianity and the coming of the British colonialists in 1842.
Islam, being a religion of literature and education, had thus brought civilisation to West African for the first time, which tremendously impacted on the language and culture of the Yoruba people. At that time, Yoruba language was committed to writing in Arabic alphabets.
Arabic, therefore, became the language of literacy and the medium of communication and scholarly discourse among Yoruba Muslim scholars.
It is rather a matter of concern and even an irony that the same Muslims are now far behind their Christian counterparts in Western education. How did this irony come about? How can it be reversed?
These questions will be answered in this column at another time In sha’Allah.
