MUSLIMS of Delta State origin have protested their alleged exclusion from the State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, noting that virtually all the appointees were non-indigenes.

In a petition to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa yesterday and signed by six representatives from the three senatorial zones of the state, they urged him to repeal the board in the interest of indigenous Muslims and peace in the state.

They maintained that the development amounted to marginalisation.

The statement, jointly signed by Alhaji Mohammed Isimah (representing Delta North), Alhaji Mahmud Kolodi (Delta Central), Engr. Nurudeen (Delta Central), Haruna Akora (Delta South), Alhaja Khadijah B. O. Alegimenhen (Delta North) and Alhaji Sadiq Oniyesaneyene Musa (Delta South), said the composition “is injustice and oppression to the indigenous Muslims. It is to be noted that Deltans are traditional practitioners in term of religion and with the passage of time majority converted to Christianity while others converted to Islam.
  
“We want to inform that Islam and Christianity were faiths brought to us by foreigners and that adherents of these faiths believe in the existence of God and peaceful relationship to the development of mankind. In all the states and tribes in Nigeria, every indigene is proud to associate with his /her own.

A Deltan cannot go to Sokoto State to claim what belongs to the indigenes of Sokoto. There is no Urhobo or Ika man/woman that is presently representing the Christians in Sokoto Christians Pilgrims Welfare Board. Why in Delta?
” they queried.  

“It came to us as a surprise that the reconstitution of the Board was made up of non-indigenous Muslims of Igala, Yoruba and Hausa tribes as against the normal tradition of appointing indigenous Muslims of Delta State to the Board.

“This departure from previous regimes of Chief James Ibori and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan is an insult and nonentity to the indigenous Muslims,” they added.

The board as recently constituted by the governor is headed by Dr. Ismaila Okudaye (representing Yoruba community), Alhaji Suleman Jauro (Hausa), Idrisu Adamu Kuta (Igala), Alhaji Sule Badmus (Yoruba) and two Deltans, including Alhaji A. Amori (Secretary) and Alhaja Mariam Nabiri.