An Islamic group known as In The Course Of Allah with its base in Oyo State has chided statements credited to another group called Joint Action Committee For Preservation Of Rights And Honour Of Imams.
In a press statement which was published through an online newspaper in which the later group called on Alfas and Imams in Oyo state to shun invitation to Iftar (breaking of fast) by the executive governor of Oyo state, Engr Seyi Makinde.
The group in a statement signed by its Amir, Ustaz Waheed Ibraheem, and made available to journalists , condemned the statement credited to the other group describing it as political, insightful, un-islamic, and capable of pitching two different authorities against each other stressing that the content of the reported press release goes against the teachings of Islam.
According to the statement, Ibraheem stated that the call to shun governor Makinde’s Iftar invitation by the Joint Action Committee For Preservation Of Rights And Honour Of Imams on the ground of federal government order of public gatherings not exceeding 30 persons as a result of COVID-19 was baseless and lacks any proof or evidence to back up its claim that the state government was in the habit of disregarding federal government directives.
The statement wondered if the group was holding brief for the FG, Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC), or was just acting as an agent of the main opposition party in Oyo state noting that the purported press release appeared clearly like a follow up to an earlier attempt by an opposition party to pitch the state government against the federal government during a COVID-19 palliative related affairs.
The statement reads in part: “in lieu of the Iftar in question and the social distancing measured querried, the state government and governor, noting the importance of the Holy month, the virtues therein, the love that radiates greater within families, mosques, and communities, and more importantly the inter-faith brotherliness during Ramadan but hindered by the pandemic, has adequately put in place all necessary safety measures as ordered by Governor Makinde.
“The invitees who have respectfully accepted to join the governor and his deputy at the scheduled Iftar include the chief Imam from each geopolitical zone in the state supported by chairmen of two Muslim communities and three other important state dignitaries whose invitation will only admit them under strict adherence to laid down health and safety precautions.
“It is therefore, easy to spot the deceit of the group that the state government who in collaboration with the state COVID-19 Taskforce has put in place adequate health and safety precautions in order not to hinder an event aimed at promoting love, togetherness, brotherhood, and most particularly interfaith relationship.”
The statement stated further the Joint Action Committee For Preservation Of Rights And Honour Of Imams has no interrelationships with Imams and Alfas in the state and was clearly playing out a script aimed at further heating up the polity and creating public unrest.
The statement described the group as ‘double faced and double tongued with a plan to cause religious disharmony in a calculated move to smear the governor’s goodwill and interreligious affection which he has continually enjoyed unhindered.
“We have to unearth their malicious intention by falsely claiming that Governor Makinde didn’t invite them during last Ramadan.
“It is on record that governor Makinde was not the sitting governor during last Ramadan 1440 but the Ibadan Imams had Iftar with the immediate past governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi.
“It is however, on record that governor Makinde then as governor-elect did join Imams, Muslim clerics and other Ummah during last Ramadan Iftar organized by the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Edo and Delta states, Alhaji Dawud Makanjuola Akinola,” he said.
The group however assured that invitation to by the Iftargovernor will be duly honored by all invitees and urged it’s Muslim brethren under different umbrella or group to desist from being used by political parties as a political tool to cause religious disharmony aimed at achieving sinister motive and political gains.
