THE Osun State governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, has commended the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN) for serving as a uniting force for all Muslim communities and smaller Islamic organisations in the South West and for promoting and advancing the interests of Islam and the Muslims in the region.
He gave the commendation on Wednesday at an international conference on the biography of Prophet Muhammad held at the conference hall of the University of Ibadan mosque complex.
According to the governor, MUSWEN has been fulfilling its key objectives since its establishment about 11 years ago.
Governor Oyetola described the theme of the conference, ‘The Exemplary Leadership Style of Prophet Muhammad: The Way to Inter-Ethnic and Inter-Faith Harmony’, as not only apt but timely.
He described the ability to keep promises as a defining exemplary leadership style of Prophet Muhammad, from which he said he was taking a cue as Osun State’s helmsman.
In a keynote address, the Executive Secretary of MUSWEN, Professor Muslih Yahya, identified lack of good leadership as a major factor that had kept many developing countries of the world perpetually underdeveloped.
Prof. Yahya also condemned what he called the resort of many political leaders to impoverishment of the people and manipulation of religion and ethnicity to set the people against one another in order to perpetuate themselves in office.
The retired professor at the Department of Religion and Philosophy, University of Jos, said, however, that both ethnic and religious interests could be effectively controlled to put communities of the world on the best footing if the examples in the lifestyle of the Prophet Muhammad were followed by the leadership of the communities.
The immediate past Executive Secretary of MUSWEN, Prof. Dawud Noibi, said the essence of the conference was to underscore the need for all well-meaning people to follow the examples of Prophet Muhammad.
“Allah instructs us in Surah 33, Ayat 21 of the Holy Qur’an that the best example for all those who look forward to meeting Him on the Day of Resurrection and those who want to live a peaceful life here in this world is in the lifestyle of Prophet Muhammad. That is the message we want people to take away from this conference,” Prof. Noibi said.
Dr Kamil Kemanci from Nile University of Nigeria, who delivered the lead paper tagged ‘Civilisation of Love and Tolenrace’, at the opening of the conference, said for societies of the world to attain inter-ethnic and interreligious harmony, people need to take a cue from the lifestyle of Prophet Muhammad.
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