Chief Imam Yoruba of Ilorin alleges threats to life •He should come out of hiding —Kwara CP

AN Islamic scholar, based in Ilorin, Kwara State, Sheikh AbdulRaheem Aduanigba, has alleged that his life is under threat, claiming that some people attempted to kidnap him in his residence on Tuesday night.

Speaking with Saturday Tribune in a telephone conversation, Sheikh Aduanigba, who said he is the Lemomu Yoruba (Chief Imam Yoruba) of Ilorin, said he was being persecuted for his stance on the emancipation of the Yoruba race.

A video went viral on the social media, during the week, in which the Islamic cleric called on Muslim faithful to drop their Islamic names and rather adopt their Yoruba names as part of the efforts at resuscitating the Yoruba renaissance.

Speaking on Thursday, he said his ordeal started some 20 years ago when he was turbaned as the Chief Imam Yoruba of Ilorin, an action which he said did not go down well with the Ilorin Emirate and which culminated in a law suit which he eventually won in 2009.

“I was in my house on Tuesday, 8 May, 2018, when some three men came knocking at my gate at about 11pm. They claimed that they were police officers who were acting on the instruction of the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr Aminu Pai Saleh, who they claimed invited me to a meeting at that odd hour.

“I became suspicious as I noticed that two of the three men wore unkempt beards and I thus concluded they were not policemen. They told me that I should come with them to honour a supposed invitation by the Commissioner of Police.

“I became more curious and I asked that they should allow me place a call to the police commissioner who is well known to me. Oddly, the first line was switched off and the second rang and rang many times, unpicked.

“One of the men now unwittingly suggested that the police commissioner must be sleeping, a clear signal that the said invitation at 11pm may not have even emanated from the police commissioner. My suspicion was coupled with the fact that there was no warrant of arrest and no formal letter of invitation.”

Speaking on the development, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kwara State command, Mr Ajayi Okasanmi, who spoke on behalf of the Commissioner of Police,  claimed that the Islamic cleric was duly invited by the police.

He said the cleric refused to honour the invitation made to him, despite the fact that the letter was sent to his residence, advising him to come out from hiding and “behave as a responsible citizen.”

According to Okasanmi, Sheikh Aduanigba was invited by the police, based on a petition written by those he described as concerned citizens of the state over alleged inciting video made and disseminated by the cleric to public.