MURIC wants special security for Ogbomoso Imam

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has pleaded with the Oyo State Police Command to ensure adequate security for the grand Chief Imam of Ogbomoso, Dr. Talhat Ayilara, amid the ongoing face-off between him and the monarch Oba Ghandi Olaoye Arumogege III.

The group faulted the monarch’s appointment of another grand chief Imam he tagged: ‘palace Chief Imam,’ while the substantive Chief Imam is still in office, suggesting that the new appointment may have other motives.

MURIC, in a statement by the Executive Director of the human rights, Prof Ishaq Akintola, alleged that the new ‘palace Imam’ is a reserved replacement for the substantive Chief Imam whenever ‘anything’ happens to the Chief Imam.

“The appointment of this ‘palace Imam’ while a substantive, capable, and active Chief Imam is in office and performing naturally raises eyebrows. It is alien to the culture of Islam, and it has never happened in Ogbomoso,” Akintola said.

“This is where the security agencies need to show interest because those who were so desperate that they went as far as contriving to bring in a ‘palace Imam’ despite a court injunction may have other ideas.”

The group however commended the state Police Command “for the neutral, professional and laudable role it has played in the matter so far.

“However, we appeal to the Command to make the safety of the Chief Imam of Ogbomoso one of his major security priorities. Prevention, they say, is always better than cure.

“This is important in order to maintain the peaceful atmosphere that the city of Ogbomoso in particular and Oyo State in general is well known for. There is no gainsaying the fact that the Imamate affair of Ogbomoso has attracted the attention of Nigerian Muslims as a whole.

“The Muslim Community in Nigeria is therefore watching with keen interest. The Chief Imam of Ogbomoso must not disappear into thin air.”