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Tag: MUSWEN

  • MUSWEN provides succour for Ibadan quintuplets

    Succour yesterday came the way of the family of 28-year-old Mrs. Sakirat Rasaq, who last Monday, gave birth to quintuplets- three boys and two girls- at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

    The President, Muslim Ummah of South West of Nigeria (MUSWEN), Alhaji Sakariyawu Babalola, announced a foundation for the kids.

    He broke the news during a visit to the woman and the kids at the hospital’s special baby care unit.

    Babalola said the foundation, to be adminstered by MUSWEN, Oyo State Muslim Community and Ibadan Muslim Community, will take care of the kids’ education from primary school to university level.

    He said: “The visit today is for us to thank Allah for his blessings to our brother and sister and the wonderful gifts, who are doing well.

    “After  wide consultations, MUSWEN and the Muslim community both in Ibadan and Oyo State have decided on a long term programme for the kids through a foundation that will sponsor their education up to the university level.”

    Babalola, who was accompanied by other MUSWEN leaders, including the Iyalode Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaja Sekinat Adekola, presented N50,000 to Mrs. Razaq.

    The kids’ father, Alfa Yusuf Rasaq Ewenje, thanked the community for the gesture.

    He said the naming ceremony will hold today at their Ijokodo, Ibadan home.

  • MUSWEN’s visit to MARKAZ

    MUSWEN’s visit to MARKAZ

    Preamble

    It couldn’t have been an idle talk when Prophet Muhammad (SAW) expressed an axiom of all ages and generations. After all, the Almighty Allah had told us in Qur’an 53 verse 3 that this greatest man that ever lived “never talked out of sheer whim; any utterance he made at all must have come from divine inspiration”.

    One of such utterances was about visits. He said while counseling Muslims: “Visit (associates) randomly to enhance love and harmony (in the society).

     

    Courtesy visit

    In the spirit of love, unity and togetherness, the leadership of the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN) paid a courtesy visit to the Institute of Arabic and Islamic Centre popularly called Markaz, Agege, Lagos State, last Friday.

    The powerful visitation team led by the President of MUSWEN, His Excellency Chief (Dr.) Sakariyau Olayiwola Babalola CON, FFP, DSC (honoris causa), who is generally known as Chief SOB, consisted of such eminent personalities as the Secretary-General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Prof Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede OFR, FNAL; the Executive Secretary of MUSWEN, Prof DOS Noibi OBE, FIAC, FISN as well as the guru of the Islamic Education Trust (IET), Dr. Abdullah Jubril Oyekan.

    Others in the team included the President of Rahmatu Islamiyyah Organisation, Dr. Abdullah O. Awelenje; the Chairman of MUSWEN’s Finance and Business Committee, Alhaji Abdul Rafiu Ebiti, FCA; the Chairman, Ikeja Division of Muslim Community of Lagos State, Alhaji (Chief) Akande; the Chairman, Youth and Social Committee of Lagos State Muslim Community, Alhaji T. A. B. Osho; MUSWEN’s Taskforce Committee, Barr. YKO Abdul Kareem; the Secretary of MUSWEN’s Taskforce Committee, Prof. Abdul Ganiyyi Raji of the University of Ibadan and the Personal Assistant to His Excellence, Chief (Dr.) S. O. Babalola, Alhaji Hafis Timehin.

    Also in the team were the Secretary of Lagos State Muslim Community, Alhaji S. O. Giwa; the National Secretary of ‘The Companion’, Alhaji Musbau Sanusi; Dr. Misbau Junaid of the University of Lagos;Alhaji Ya’kub Ola Aje of Lagos State NACOMYO and Alhaji Raji Adelowo of The Companion.

    Still in the intimidating team were other members of The Companion such as Barr. Abdulsalam Oyetunde Abbas; Alhaji Abdul Gani Abdul Majeed; Alhaji Sikiru Alimi; Hassan Fajinmite and Alh. Rafiu Alabi, The Companion’s Executive Secretary.

    Yet, among the members of MUSWEN’s Taskforce Committee in that team were Dr. Wole Abbas of the University of Ibadan; Alh. Kamor Dairo; Alhaji Tajudeen Alabede and Alhaji Abdul Ganiyy Oyekunle as well as yours sincerely

     

    Purpose of the visit

    MUSWEN leadership paid last Friday’s courtesy visit to MARKAZ in fulfillment of Prophet Muhammad’s Hadith which counsels Muslims to visit one another randomly in order to enhance love and harmony. The visit was the second of its type to top members of the League of Imams and Alfas of the South West in recent times.

    A similar team, also led by His Excellency Chief (Dr.) S.O. Babalola as the President of MUSWEN, paid a courtesy visit to the President-General of the League of Imams and Alfas, Sheikh Jamiu Kewulere Bello at Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State in August 2015.

    The Secretary-General of the League of Imams and Alfas, Sheikh Ahmad Aladesawe who is also the Chief Imam of Owo, Ondo State as well as the Chairman of MUSWEN’s Education Committee, Prof Muheeb Opeloye of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, along with a number of other Muslim personalities from Ondo and Osun states including the Secretary of Osun State’s Muslim Community, Alhaji Hahim Olapade, were parts of that glorious occasion.

    The joint emphasis in the speeches made on the occasion was on unity and cooperation of the Muslim Ummah especially in the Southwest.

    It is for the purpose of such unity and cooperation, based on trust, that the President-General as well as the Secretary-General of the League of Imams and Alfas were made members of Central Working Committee (CWC) of MUSWEN.  (MUSWEN’s CWC is the highest decision-making organ of the umbrella body).

     

    The choice of a Friday

    The choice of a Friday to visit MARKAZ was to enable the visiting team to join the observance of Salatul Jum’at and benefit from the usual scholarly sermon weekly delivered by the Rector (MUDIR) of that non-such citadel of knowledge.

    In his welcome address, the Rector of MARKAZ, who is also the publicity Secretary of the League of Imams and Alfas, Sheikh Habibullah Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory, OON, laid emphasis on unity and cooperation even as he solicited for effective function of division of labour within the region’s Muslim Ummah.

    He described the role of the League as spiritual and that of MUSWEN as economic and administrative.

    He said with mutual respect and mutual trust, the two bodies could rightly pilot the affairs of the South-West Muslim Ummah without any rancour.

    He praised the relentless activities of MUSWEN and commended the progressive leadership of that apex body concluding that with sincere cooperation between the League and MUSWEN, Islam would thrive successfully in the Southwest .

     

    About MUSWEN

    For those who did not know, Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN) is the umbrella body for all Muslim organisations, institutions and groups in the Southwest of Nigeria. This is the area comprising the present Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo states.

    MUSWEN is the counterpart of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) which serves as the umbrella body for all Muslim organisations in northern Nigeria. Together, both bodies are like a dove of peace flying actively towards success with two positive wings.

    In the Southwest, MUSWEN is like a gargantuan tree with strong roots firmly planted in the belly of the earth upon which grows a towering stem and lively foliages sprouting joyously into the firmaments of the orbit.

    The League of Imams and Alfas serves as the roots supplying the tree with spiritual food and water while MUSWEN stands out as the stem and foliages supplying the society with wood, nectar and fruits.

    Thus, MUSWEN has become a vivid reminder of the Qur’an Chapter 14 Verse 24 in which the Almighty Allah says:”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 its foliages sprout gorgeously into the firmaments of the sky, yielding (edible) fruits every season by Allah’s grace? Allah addresses humans in parables that they may be mindful (of their deeds)”.

     

    Formation of MUSWEN

    The idea that led to the formation of MUSWEN as the umbrella body for all the Southwest Muslims started in March 2004 at the instance of ‘The Companion’, a Lagos based organisation of Muslim business and professional youth elite.

    That idea emanated from a thoughtful intention of correcting the mistake of the past which had made the Muslim Ummah in the region an easy ride for certain non-Muslims on matters of their legitimate rights.

    It will be recalled that when the European colonialists introduced government’s education grant in 1887 only Christian Missionaries could benefit from it because the Muslims had no single school for acquisition of Western education and the colonial government was not ready to fund Madrasah.

    It took the strong determination of a young man, Idris Akinola Ode Animashaun to change that situation through personal efforts. The ideological rifts between the two main faction in existence in Lagos at that time conspicuously deprived the Lagos Muslim Ummah of the advantage of its population and rights.

    It took  Animashaun (1835-1918) to turn round the screw of indifference in favour of Muslim progress. It was this man who arrived in Lagos from Ile-Ife in 1862 and later became a learned scholar in Islam that first acquired Western education privately and even became the first Muslim Principal of a government school.

    That laudable precedent later encouraged Muslim parents to enroll their wards in schools. And when the colonial government established a conventional school for Muslim children in 1896, Sheikh Idris Animashaun volunteered to serve there as a teacher to ensure that those children were taught (Islam) their parents’ religion and he was made the Principal.

    (For details of this story, please, read Professor H. O. Danmole’s biography of Sheikh Idris Akinola Ode Animasaun. The book is entitled ‘A Protagonist of Western and Islamic Education in Colonial Lagos’) It was published in 2011.

     

    Emergence of Muslim Organisations

    Several years thereafter, some Muslim organisations began to spring up in Lagos. The first of them was Ahmadiyyah Muslim Mission that reached Nigeria in early 1900s. That Mission later broke up into two main faction from which several other organisations such as Jam’atu Islamiyyah; Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria; Nawair-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria; Zumratul-Islamiyyah and a number of others sprang.

    Each of those organisations was operating independently with little consideration for the unity of the Ummah. The advantage of proliferation of organisations at that time however, was the keen competition among them particularly in the realm of Western education.

     

    Formation of MSSN

    The above trend dragged on until 1954 when a group of secondary school pupils in Lagos came together to establish Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) with the late Dr. Lateef Adegbite as its first and longest serving President.

    That new development was a technical revolution that enabled Muslim school pupils to assemble from time to time on matters of Islam and other common interest just as it created a rare opportunity for them to choose matrimonial partners among themselves.

    Within a very short time, MSSN became a national Muslim organisation for school pupils who would not, ordinarily, have been privileged to join any adult organisational group.

    Unfortunately with time, however, MSSN also broke into factions as members who had graduated from tertiary institutions refused to vacate managerial offices for those who were still students if only to groom them for competent leadership.

    Today, MSSN is a mere matter of nomenclature.The present situation of Muslims in which youths are still largely not educated at a benefiting level is quite unfortunate and intolerable.

    It was one of the means of ending this gloomy situation and igniting a glow of hope that gingered MUSWEN into coming to life as a formidable platform for the Muslims of the South West to prove their mettle.

     

    NACOMYO, FOMWAN, NASFAT and Others

    Forced by political expedience in 1980, some religiously persecuted young working class Muslim men and women   in Ibadan decided to establish another youth organisation into which thousands of MSSN alumni could graduate after leaving the school.

    This new thoughtful organisation adopted various names at state level until it finally settled for National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations (NACOMYO).

    Its first President was Alhaji Ishaq Adekunle Sanni (popularly known as Kunle Sanni). And in 1984, another organisation called the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), which is exclusive to Nigerian female Muslims.

    Its first national President was Hajiya Aisha Lemu. Yet, a few years thereafter, an un-assuming Muslim organisation stormed Nigerian Islamic orbit like a colossus. Its name is Nasrullah Al-fath Society of Nigeria (NASFAT).

    Its formation in the 1980s was as revolutionary as that of MSSN of the 1950s. And its rising profile, like that of FOMWAN remains unimaginable. Each of these organisations is like a crescent in its own right, signaling the direction of the future movements of Nigerian Muslim youths.

     

    The Missing Link

    Despite their vibrancy and progressive paces, all the aforementioned organisations have no common forum at which they can deliberate together and take common decisions on vital issues when necessary.

    It is this link that MUSWEN came to fill. Thus, MUSWEN can be called the Parliament of Nigeria’s Southwest Muslims. That is why, in the constitution of MUSWEN, all Chairmen and Secretaries of State Muslim Communities as well as those of independent organizations and certain individual stakeholders are classified as members of MUSWEN’s Central Working Committee (CWC) which is the highest decision making organ of MUSWEN.

     

    MUSWEN’s Vision

    MUSWEN’s vision is of a united and effective voice for Muslims in the South West Nigeria under a strong, veritable and collective leadership. This had eluded the region for a very long time due to ideological differences and unnecessary variations in interpretations of the Qur’an and Sunnah.

    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 with which to enable them to live a true Islamic life as ordained by Allah through the Qur’an and Sunnah.

    The body was inaugurated in Ibadan on August 10, 2008 with the attendance of virtually all the front line Muslim Obas, Chieftains and other stakeholders in the region.

    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.

    With MUSWEN the hope of better days ahead is quite bright.

  • MUSWEN on the Move

    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 belly of the earth while its foliages sprout gorgeously into the firmament of the sky, yielding (edible) fruits every season by Allah’s permission? Allah presents human beings with parables that they may be mindful”

                                                            Qur’an 14 verse 24.

     

    Preamble 

    In what is considered a logical move to solidify its strategy in upholding the unity of the Southwest Muslims, a powerful delegation of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) paid a courtesy visit to Ado-Ekiti, the capital city of Ekiti State, last Sunday. The visit was for two main reasons: (1) to congratulate the new President-General of the League of Imams and Alfas of the Southwest, Edo and Delta, Alhaji Jamiu Bello Kewulere who is also the Chief Imam of Ado-Ekiti; (2) to reassure the Muslim Community of Ekiti as well as the League of Imams and Alfas that MUSWEN is as much in partnership with them as it is with other Muslim Communities and organisations in the region.

    The delegation was led by the President of MUSWEN, Chief Sakariyau Olayiwola Babalola, OON who is popularly known as Chief SOB Babalola. He became the President of MUSWEN early this year at the General Assembly meeting of MUSWEN. He is the third President of that umbrella body of the Southwest Muslim Ummah. He succeeded Justice Tijani Bolorinwa Babalakin, JSC (Rtd), CON, LLD  who also succeeded the late Prof Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa, NMO, CON, the pioneer President of MUSWEN.

    Ever since he assumed office as President, Chief S.O.B has been taking some revolutionary moves aimed at putting MUSWEN on a very sound footing and at improving the welfare of the Muslim masses in the region. One of his progressive moves was the trip to Ado-Ekiti last Sunday which further confirms that this President is really on course in his determination to move MUSWEN to a higher pedestal. That visit which will soon be followed by similar ones to other states reminds yours sincerely of an article published in this column about MUSWEN in 2009. It went thus:

     

    Dynamism and Evolution

    “Life is both dynamic and evolutionary. Its dynamism springs incontrovertibly from its evolution. Without evolution, there can be no experience for man. And, without dynamism, every progressive move capable of fetching more experience would have been in vain. To Islam, one of these two phenomena of life (dynamism and evolution) is a corollary of the other. Thus, the presence of evolution without that of dynamism is like the appearance of the sun without its rays.

     

    Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

    Contrary to the atheist theory of evolution propounded by a British naturalist, Charles Darwin, in his book entitled ‘On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’, published in 1859, Islam believes that evolution is rather a matter of reformation than transformation. Darwin had wanted the world to believe that all living organisms were from a single atom, which transformed from nature to nature and from shape to shape until all the living things we can see today came into existence.

    He also hinted that all those perceivable living things would not remain what they were and concluded that they would change from time to time assuming new natural postures entirely different from what they looked originally. By this queer theory, cockroaches were expected to transform into man at a stage and man into a cow or an elephant. Can you imagine that?

    Thank God, however, that the widely popularised but obviously illogical theory has now been consigned to the refuse bin where it naturally belongs. Falsehood is like a smoke oozing spirally and aggressively into the atmosphere. It may pollute the air for a while. It may colour the atmosphere momentarily. But it will finally and definitely vamoose into permanent oblivion. Allah had alluded to this in the Qur’an where He says: “truth has come and falsehood has vamoosed; surely, falsehood is meant to vamoose”. The Darwin theory of evolution is a typical example of such falsehood.

    Readers may be wondering how Darwin’s theory of evolution concerns MUSWEN. This will be explained shortly. In one of the write-ups published in this column in the past, I described Islam as “a mighty ocean flowing ceaselessly towards all directions and watering all plants into life through the deltas of adjoining rivers”.

     

    Reminiscence

    When that ocean flowed into Nigeria about 1,000 years ago, it only attracted a few men and women of divinely guided minds who were foresighted enough to embrace the new light of Islam coming to illuminate the dark continent of Africa. For several centuries thereafter, that light remained in the area now called Northern Nigeria. And when it eventually reached the Yorubaland (now Southwest Nigeria), in the 15th century, it hardly found any tributary with which to water the plants around. All the people who later embraced Islam and became Muslims practised it as individuals and not as organisations. They only came together as congregations in Mosques during observance of Salat.

    It was only in 1916 when Ahmadiyyah Muslim Jama’a came to Nigeria via Lagos that the idea of real Islamic organisations began to germinate. Hitherto, all Muslims in the north and in the south were just Muslims of the Sunni doctrine. Shi’ah, at that time, had not yet been known to this part of the world. The little differences that later arose among the Sunni Muslims emanated from the differences of opinions among the four renowned Sunni Imams (Malik, Shafi’i, Hambali and Hanafi) concerning the jurisprudential interpretation of Sunnah. And, with time, when Sufi doctrine began to spread, ignorance took the centre stage as the followers of Qadriyyah and those of Tijaniyyah began to engage in mutual confrontations with each claiming a non-existing superiority over the other.

     

    Nigeria’s First Muslim Organisation

    It may therefore, be said that the very first real Muslim organisation in Nigeria is Ahmadiyyah Muslim Jama’a, which was imported into the Southwest of Nigeria from England in 1916. Although that organisation later broke up into two main factions in Nigeria, it nevertheless opened door for many other Muslim organisations to spring up especially in Lagos.

    Some of such organisations include Jamaatu Islamiyyah, Anwarul Islam, Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Zumratul Islamiyyah, Nawair-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Muslim Association of Nigeria (MAN)  and a host of others, like the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), National Council of Muslim Youths Organisation (NACOMYO), Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN), The Criterion,  Nasrullah-li-Fatih (NASFAT), Fatiu Quareeb, The Muslim Congress (TMC) and the like, most of which sprang up later in Lagos.

    However, except for bodies like Lagos Muslim Council and the League of Imams and Alfas, none of the aforementioned organisations attempted to serve as an umbrella for the entire Muslim community in the region. Even the two that made attempt only succeeded in catering for certain sections of the Ummah. This is in contrast to what obtains in the north where Jamaatu Nasril Islam is the main umbrella body for all Muslim organisations in that region.

     

    NSCIA and JNI

    Considering the fact that Jamaatu Nasril Islam (JNI) serves the entire north the South West Muslim population which is less than 20 percent of the northern Muslim population, ought to have created a similar umbrella for the region’s Muslim community to serve as a strong compliment to that of the north.

    But, even after about 500 years of embracing Islam, the thought of having such a body did not materialise until August 2008 when MUSWEN came into existence. One can therefore see why the Muslims in this region were so disunited even before a common threat. But it is better to be late than never. At last, MUSWEN has come to stay and it is waxing stronger.

     

    Genesis of MUSWEN

    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. MUSWEN as umbrella body was inaugurated in Ibadan in August 2008 in the presence of virtually all the frontline Muslim Obas and Chieftains. His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto was the Special Guest of Honour on the occasion where all Muslim organisations in the Southwest were duly represented not as guests but as full members. Their presence indicated their commitments.

     

    MUSWEN’s 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 to project the right image of Islam and raise the profile of the Muslims in this part of the country with a formidable unity. That aim also includes enabling them and their offspring to live fully worthy lives as staunch believers and practitioners of the faith while at the same time contributing their quota to the development of the country as respected citizens.

     

    Before Now

    As individuals and organisations, we had wandered aimlessly for centuries like unguarded flock. We had cried for a guiding umbrella body without getting one. We had identified disunity as the bane of our existence and yet we had failed to find a solution for it. But Allah has a time for everything just as He has a programme for every nation or community. Now is the time for solving the chronic problem confronting the Southwest Muslim. Now is the time to flock together in peace and harmony. Now is the time to fly where we had been crawling and fortunately, MUSWEN has a capable pilot in its President, Chief S.O. Babalola.

    Who can claim to be happy where virtually all the children of school age that are out of school happen to be Muslims? Who can feel satisfied with having fewer schools and fewer teachers than we need at all levels our educational system? Who can claim to be well pleased with a situation where the most skilled and most professionally qualified Muslims have crossed to the other side of the bridge due to lack of guidance? Who does not know that the enclave of penury in this part of the country is domiciled in the Muslim community? Should we continue to be complacent with this gloomy situation and indifferent to a positive change? To put correct perspective in place, only cooperation by all will be good for all.

     

    An Eye Sore

    If we look around us, we shall find that almost all the touts in our city and town motor garages claim to be Muslims. Overwhelming majority of ‘never do well’ artisans in our region claim to be Muslims. Most of the hooligans used by the politicians to kill or maim political opponents claim to be Muslims. There are no worthy private Muslim schools in which to enroll our children. No trusted Muslim hospitals are available for our masses. Few Muslim law chambers can compare with those for non-Muslims. Few Accounting firms owned by Muslims are of the highest standard. Even ordinary continuous education centres to coach our children for Secondary School Certificate or General Certificate of Education or Joint Admission and Matriculation exams are not available for Muslims. Why then, are we complaining of attempt in certain quarters to convert our children? Who does not know that anybody who pays the piper automatically has the authority to dictate the tune?

     

    Why MUSWEN?

    It is in order to end this gloomy situation and rekindle the glow of hope that MUSWEN emerged as a formidable platform for the Muslims of the Southwest 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 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 dates back to centuries before the advent of Christianity and the coming of the British colonialists in 1842. Islam had thus made a tremendous impact on the language and culture of the people. Being a religion of literacy and education, Islam brought these to the Yoruba and the rest of West African people for the first time.  At that time, Yoruba language was committed to writing in Arabic alphabets otherwise known as Ajami. Arabic, therefore, became the first language of literacy as well as the medium of formal communication and scholarly discourse among Yoruba Muslim scholars. But hasn’t that been reversed today?

     

    Concern

    It is rather a matter of concern and even an irony that the same Muslims are now far behind their Christian counterparts in education. How did this irony come about? How can it be reversed?

    What are the aims and objectives of MUSWEN? What is its structure? What programmes does it have for the Southwest Muslims? What is its position vis a vis the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs? These and many more questions about MUSWEN will be answered in this column in the near future In sha’a Llah.

  • MUSWEN’s General Assembly

    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.

  • Southwest Muslims seek role in Confab

    Muslims in the Southwest under the aegis of Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) have urged Southwest representatives to carry them along during the National Conference.

    Addressing reporters yesterday at the home of the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Arisekola-Alao, the Executive Secretary, MUSWEN, Prof. Dawud Noibi, said: “Our representatives at the National Conference should carry the Muslims alonsg. There is need to carry us along because we also have an agenda at the conference.”

    He said although the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) would represent Muslims’ interest at the conference, there was need for Muslim leaders in the Southwest to be represented.

    Leaders from the Southwest present at the news briefing were the Baba Adinni of Lagos State, Sheik Afeez Abu, Secretary of the Muslim Community in Lagos State, Alhaji Saheed Giwa, Chairman of the Muslim Community in Oyo State, Alhaji Kunle Sanni, Alhaji Femi Abass, among others.

  • Alleged Islamisation of Nigeria: NSCIA slams PDP

    Alleged Islamisation of Nigeria: NSCIA slams PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday came under fresh fire for referring to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a party with an agenda for the Islamisation of Nigeria.

    Secretary-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Prof Ishaq Oloyede, slammed PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, for making the controversial statement.

    He called it reckless.

    Prof Oloyede spoke with pressmen yesterday on the sideline of the 9th Zakat Distribution at the New Great Hall of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos/Lagos University Teaching Hospital (CMUL-LUTH), Idi-Araba, Mushin, Lagos.

    According to the NSCIA scribe, the PDP statement was a product of a confused mind.

    He prayed Almighty Allah to guide politicians to be conscious of God in whatever they do.

     

    The event was also witnessed by the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad; Emir of Ilorin Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari; Chief Imam of Lagos Alhaji Garuba Akinola Ibrahim; Chairman of Jaiz Bank Alhaji Umar Mutallab; Executive Secretary, Muslim Ummah in Southwest of Nigeria (MUSWEN) Prof Daud Noibi and host of other dignitaries.

    The APC itself has already dismissed the PDP allegation as untrue, saying it was part of the agenda of the ruling PDP and the Presidency to discredit it, a plan which it said would fail.

    Similarly, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has described the PDP statement as parochial and myopic.

    The organisation’s Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said that the view that APC is an Islamic party exists only in the figment of the imagination of dreamers who lack drive and that the PDP statement could only have been meant for “a few gullible Nigerians” as the majority of Nigerians “will not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by self-serving politicians.”

    It asked the PDP to call its spokesperson to order, stressing that religion “is a very sensitive issue in this country and no political party should attempt to turn Islam into a pawn in its political chess game.”