Adeyemo Adejugbe, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, has asked the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs to dissolve the Sharia arbitration panel set up in the state capital’s central mosque.
Adejugbe issued the directive in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday during a meeting with Jamie Kewulere, chief imam and president of the league of imams and alfas in the south-west, Edo and Delta states; traditional rulers and other Muslim leaders.
The monarch said that though the panel was set up with good intentions, the timing is unsuitable.
He said if it is allowed to exist, other faiths will want to tow the same path “and before you know it, it will lead to crises”.
“Based on this Sharia issue, I summoned the Chief Imam and his lieutenants, members of the Ewi-in-Council, the president of Ado Progressives Union and Ado sons and daughters to discuss the matter because it is a sensitive issue,” Punch quoted Adejugbe as saying.
“We all listened and it appears they set up a committee at the Central Mosque with the intention to listen to disputes. According to them, they have good intentions and it was an internal arrangement that has nothing to do with any external person or somebody influencing them.
“I told them the mood of the nation will not allow such to happen now, that they should revert to how the founding fathers of the mosque had been settling disputes in the past without setting up a committee.
“I told them that there is no need for the committee and they should dissolve the committee henceforth. That is the decision of the Ewi-in-Council and that is the position of all Ado sons and daughters.
“The panel stands dissolved. If we should allow such committees, the Christians too will want to set up committees in their various churches, the traditional worshippers too and before you know it, it will lead to crises.”
The monarch’s directive comes days after Dayo Apata, the the state commissioner of justice, said there is no provision for the establishment of a Sharia court or arbitration panel in Ekiti judicial structure.
He was reacting to reports of the first meeting of the panel where marriage and inheritance issues were resolved among Muslims.
Supreme Council Reacts
Responding to Adejugbe’s comments, the council, in a statement issued on Sunday, said it was embarrassed by the monarch’s actions.
It reiterated that what it set up is not a Sharia court but an arbitration panel “to mediate among willing Muslims in Ekiti State”.
In a statement co-signed by Hammed Bakare and Ahmad Yusuf, its president and spokesperson, respectively, the council rejected the monarch’s call to dissolve the panel, arguing that Sharia is part of Islam.
“The freedom of religion is guaranteed by virtue of Section 38 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended and we do not need approval from any quarter before we practice our religion,” the statement reads.
“We totally reject the purported cancellation of the Independent Shariah Arbitration Panel and we shall continue to practice our religion within the ambit of the law.
“We appeal to the entire Muslim Ummah in Ekiti State to remain calm as we continue to engage the relevant stakeholders on the issue”.
