SAN FRANCISCO, March 18, (THEWILL) – Apparently learning from the experience of their Christian counterparts who were recently enmeshed in an alleged N7 billion Presidency bribery scandal that has caused a crack among Christians in the country, South West Muslim clerics under the aegis of the League of Imams and Alfas have shunned a proposed meeting between them and the Presidency.
The meeting, it was gathered, was to be used to woo them into supporting the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo in the March 28 presidential election.
The meeting earlier scheduled for last Tuesday in Akure, the Ondo State capital, and coordinated by the Chief Imam of Owo, Sheikh Ahmad Aladesawe, the Secretary-General of the League, had to be rescheduled for Wednesday for lack of adequate mobilisation. It was to be chaired by Sambo on behalf of President Jonathan.
It was gathered that the leadership of the League of Imams and Alfas in the six South West states, as well as Edo and Delta States decided not to be involved in what they described as an “embarrassing” meeting that could cause a crack in the rank of the Muslim Ummah.
In a statement issued in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Tuesday and signed by Alhaji Ishaq Kunle Sanni, its chairman, the Muslim Community in Oyo State vowed not to attend the meeting scheduled for Akure by President Jonathan to persuade South West Muslims to vote for him on March 28.
The Oyo Muslim Community said: “Our decision to boycott this meeting is in tandem with the decision of others like Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and MUSWEN.
“The two apex Islamic bodies were totally averred to any meeting with the President until after the elections.”
“It would be a disservice to the unity of the Muslim Ummah in general for any Muslim group in Nigeria to disobey the order of these umbrella organisations.
“The Muslim Community of Oyo State is not oblivious of millions of dollars changing hands to buy people’s conscience. This we are aware has created divisions in some religious organisations.
“Anybody who goes to Akure to meet the President from Oyo State is not representing the Muslim community of Oyo State.
“We urge people of Oyo State and Muslims in the South West to vote according to their conscience and not be deceived by political demagogues masquerading as friends of the people just for the sake of canvassing for their support only to dump them after achieving their aims.
“What these politicians are practising is nairatocracy and not democracy.”
A similar meeting arranged with Yoruba Muslim leaders and fixed for Lagos by the Presidency recently was also shunned for the same reason a day before it was to come up.
But the Presidency appears hell bent on breaking the ranks of the Yoruba Muslim Ummah as it has reportedly embarked on an alternative meeting with the League of Imams and Alfas and another with the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria.
Impeccable sources said the President of MSSN, Alhaji Sirajudeen Abdul Aziz, may have gone out of his way by volunteering to mobilise members for the meeting despite a resolution at a recent leadership meeting in Akure, Ondo State that members should not attend the controversial meeting.
The purported meeting with the leadership of MSSN is expected to be held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja before the March 28 presidential election .
