7th January, 2025
PRESS RELEASE:
SHARIAH
PANEL: YORUBA MUSLIMS NOT AFRAID OF LEGAL ACTION – MURIC TELLS YORUBA GROUP
A Yoruba group under the name
Yoruba Council Worldwide (Igbimo Apapo Yoruba Lagbaye) has threatened to take legal
action against Muslims planning to launch Shari’ah panel in Oyo town, Oyo State
if they go ahead with the plan. But the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has told
the Yoruba group that Yoruba Muslims are not afraid of legal action.
The Islamic human rights
group corrected the impression that a court was being inaugurated. It insisted
that what was being planned was not a Shari’ah court but a Shari’ah panel which
has been in existence in Yorubaland since 2003 to date. It therefore accused
the Yoruba group of making a mountain out of a molehill.
MURIC’s declaration came in a
press release issued on Tuesday 7th January, 2025. It was signed by
its Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
It reads in full:
“A Yoruba group under the
name Yoruba Council Worldwide (Igbimo Apapo Yoruba Lagbaye) has threatened to
take legal action against Muslims planning to launch Shari’ah ‘court’ in Oyo
town, Oyo State if they go ahead with the plan.
“But this is a deliberate attempt
to create tension because, in reality, nobody is planning to inaugurate a Shari’ah
court. What is being planned in Oyo town is a Shari’ah panel. It is only the
state or Federal Government that has the constitutional power to create a court.
“On the contrary, any group
of people can set up a panel. A panel is just a committee. A group can set up a
committee or panel and an organization can do same. The Yoruba group is just
crying wolf where there is none because we explained all these in our statement
of Thursday, 26th December, 2024 (https://independent.ng/shariah-makinde-needs-briefing-muric/).
“We want to correct the
impression that Oyo Muslims plan to inaugurate a Shari’ah court. What Oyo
Muslims are planning is not a Shari’ah ‘court’ but a Shari’ah panel. This is
something that has been in existence in Yorubaland since 2003 to date. It therefore
accused the Yoruba group of making a mountain out of a molehill.
“How sensible is it for anyone to
say Muslims should not form a committee? How logical is it to say Muslims
should not hold meetings inside their mosques and halls? This Yoruba group is
not well informed, otherwise it should have known that what it is trying to
stop already exists in all the states of the South-West.
“Already, there are Shari’ah
panels sitting at the Central Mosque, Oja Oba, Ibadan, Oyo State (since 1st
May, 2002); Abesan Central Mosque, Ipaja, Lagos State (since 2003); Egba
Muslims Central Mosque, Kobiti, Abeokuta, Ogun State (since 17th January 2018); Osun State Muslim Community
Secretariat, Ring Road, Oshogbo (since 2005).
“Going by the venues mentioned
here it is clear that the Shari’ah panels are not using government’s buildings
or courts. They use mosques because the Shari’ah panels are private arbitration
panels. But they already exist. So this Yoruba group is trying to shut the
stable door after the horse has escaped.
“Only those who want to make caricatures
of themselves will think of stopping the Shari’ah panels. They are not
disturbing anybody. They have never and will never invite Christians to appear
before them.
“Even the Muslims who appear
before them do so voluntarily because the Shari’ah panels have no power of
enforcement. So what is the big deal? Why so much fuss? Isn’t this much ado
about nothing? What does this Yoruba group want except to heat up the polity?
They are attention seekers.
“Even the letter sent by the
group was addressed to the wrong person. The letter was addressed to Shaykh Abdul
Rasheed Hadiyatullahi whereas the latter is not part of the Oyo town team. He
is in Iwo, Osun State.
“Their claim that Shari’ah
has no history in Yorubaland is absolute bunkum. To set the records straight, Shari’ah
is of great antiquity in this part of the country. We will tell them about it
because our people say ‘when a child rejects pounded yam in the evening, his
parents will narrate the story of his mother’s marriage to him.’
“Where were these people who are
now opposing ordinary Shari’ah panel in Yorubaland when Oba Abibu Olagunju of
Ede employed Qadi Sindiku to operate the Shari’ah court at Agbeni area of Ede
town? The court functioned at Agbeni up till 1913. It was moved to Agbongbon
area of the town in 1914.
“Where were they when Oba
Momodu Lamuye who died in 1906 established a Shari’ah court in Iwo? Were they
born yet when Oba Aliyu Oyewole of Ikirun employed Mallam Bako as the qadi
(judge) from 1910? This is history. This is our past, the past of Shari’ah. We
will not allow anyone to cut us away from our past. Today was born from the
wombs of yesterday.
“It was the British
imperialists who curtailed the application of Shari’ah via the repugnancy and
validity tests and replaced them with Christian common law in the whole South-West
but they retained civil Shari’ah in the North.
“It is only that civil Shari’ah
that Yoruba Muslims are activating in their Shari’ah panels without official
involvement because none of the South-West governors since independence have had
the liberal or democratic mien to allow the application of Sections 275(1), 276
and 277 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution which allow the practice of Shariah
in any state with substantial Muslim population.
“It is gratifying that the
Yoruba group has threatened to go to court. We assure them that Yoruba Muslims
are not afraid of legal action over Shari’ah. The law is on our side. But we
advise that they should take a good look at the sections of the constitution
cited above before doing so and make sure they ask those who went to court
before over Shari’ah. We are waiting.”
#ShariahPanel
#NotAfraidOfLegalAction
Professor
Ishaq Akintola,
Founder/Executive
Director,
Muslim
Rights Concern (MURIC)
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