Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Agbotomokekere inaugurates central mosque, turbans Nojimudeen as imam

MUSLIM personalities from across the South West on Thursday converged on Ibadan for the inauguration of the Islamic Prayer Group (IPG) Central Mosque located in the Challenge area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

At the event, the Chief Imam of Ibadanland and grand patron of the League of Imams and Alfas in Yorubaland, Sheikh AbdulGaniy Abubakri Agbotomokekere, turbaned scholar, Sheikh Musa Nojimudeen, as the chief imam of the mosque and presented him with the certificate and paraphernalia of office.

Officials of the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN), including the President, Alhaji Rasaki Oladejo; the Deputy President 1, Alhaji Rafiu Ebiti; the Executive Secretary, Professor Muslih Yahya; the Media Consultant, renowned columnist, Dr Femi Abbas, attended the inauguration.

The chairman of the Muslim Community of Oyo State (MUSCOYS), Alhaji Ishaq Kunle Sanni; members of the Council of the Chief Imam of Ibadanland and other Muslim leaders and personalities from Oyo and other South West states were also in attendance.

In a sermon, Mogaji Adetunji and a member of the Ibadan chief imam’s council, Alhaji Barih Adetunji, urged Muslims to always measure their physical growth and vitality of life against the level of their spiritual development and closeness to Allah.

Alhaji Adetunji encouraged the audience to follow in the path of the newly turbaned imam, Sheikh Nojimudeen, whose 70th birthday is also being celebrated alongside the mosque’s inauguration.

He described the septuagenarian scholar as an exemplary Muslim whose life has been marked by devotion and contributions to the advancement of Islam.

Sheikh Nojimudeen, in a remark, expressed gratitude to Allah for the completion of the construction of the mosque which he said would be fully utilised for worship and promotion of Arabic and Islamic knowledge.

He said he was humbled by his official pronouncement as the chief imam of the central mosque and promised to use the position to continue to preach godliness, which he described as the solution to all problems, social and otherwise, in Nigeria and beyond.