IGBO MUSLIMS GRUMBLE OVER DELAY IN APPOINTMENT OF IMAM

IGBO MUSLIMS GRUMBLE OVER DELAY IN APPOINTMENT OF IMAM

Muslims of Igbo extraction have expressed disaffection over the delay in the appointment of an Igbo Imam for the National Mosque, Abuja, as promised by the Sultan of Sokoto and the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammadu Abubakar Sa’ad III, when the Murshid of the Mosque was appointed.



According to the group, the Sultan made the promise to erase any tribal attachment on the Imamship of the national institution, considering the fact that the three Imams under the Murshid are two Hausas and a Yoruba.

Speaking under a nongovernmental organization, Igbo Muslim Forum (IMF), the Southeast Muslim faithful explained that when the promise was made, the Igbo Muslims were happy to be carried along by the Sultan in that regard. But it has been too long when the promise was supposed to have been fulfilled.



In a statement signed by the coordinator general and secretary of the forum, Suleman A. Afikpo and Dr. Muhammad Amaechi, respectively, they recalled recent convention convened in Abuja by the South East Muslims of Nigeria (SEMON) where some members of the Igbo Muslim Ummah expressed displeasure over the promise described by some as normal lip service.

They said that the matter had become a subject of discussion at every forum of the organisation.

“The acquiescence of the President General of NSCIA, echoed further by his Secretary General, published in all the major Nigerian dailies after their meeting of the 6th Extended General Purpose Committee in October 9, 2017, was one pronouncement that placed smile on the faces of every Igbo Muslim.



“In readiness, we converged in a general meeting that screened and produced three eligible scholars from amongst us for the duty. Follow-up letter dated 16th April 2018, with Reference no: IMF/NSCIA/18/01 was disseminated”, the statement noted.



“For over a year now, there has not been any response to our letter nor the said imamate position filled. While we wait in anticipation, we grieve and grumble at the neglect being meted on us. We humbly want to use this medium to remind the authorities in charge, lest, our case be held under administrative redtopism.”