Ebonyi: Indigenous Muslims seek control of Islamic centre

THE Muslim community of Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State has expressed dissatisfaction over what it called the imposition of the leadership of the Islamic Centre, Afikpo, by the International Islamic Relief Organisation (IIRO).

The indigenous Muslims lamented that the appointment of the leadership of the centre was done without consideration of Muslim scholars from the community.

A statement signed by the chairman of the community, Alhaji Suleiman Afikpo and the Public Relations Officer, Mallam Abdulqadir Nnachi, said the majority of the Igbo referred to Muslims in Igboland as Hausas due to the fact that almost all the Islamic institutions in the region like Islamic Centre, Afikpo, were headed by non-indigenes.

The community added that the development sent the “wrong notion that Islam is not for the Igbo man because they see all the Islamic institutions as foreign organisations that serve the interest of the Hausa community in the area.”

The statement reads in part: “The centre, founded in 1958 by Sheikh Ibrahim Nwagui from Anofia where it is situated, was established to create Islamic awareness and preach peaceful coexistence in non-Muslim South East of Nigeria.

“It has undergone stages of survival as it was unnecessarily reduced to educational setup which, though, has actually trained a lot of Nigerians who are excelling in different professional and academic establishments.

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“Allah sent prophets and messengers from the people they were sent to, so that they can understand them.

“Afikpo Muslim community can boast of many illustrious Islamic scholars who studied in different fields at the Islamic University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia; Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, in Sudan and in Niger. They have good command of Islamic and Arabic knowledge. What is really wrong? Why this oppression on Muslims of Afikpo? We think it is time to challenge this injustice from the Muslim World League and its offshoot, the IIRO.”

“We demand that IIRO chooses the director and principal of the school from amongst the well-qualified Afikpo Muslim scholars, so that the original aims and objectives of the establishment of the centre can be actualised.

“We write to bring these issues to your knowledge and hope they will be treated with wisdom and to dismiss any wrong notion that Igbo Muslims are not qualified enough to manage Islamic institutions in their states of origin.”