CITIZENS COMPASS —The Muslim Community of Oyo State (MUSCOYS) has vowed to follow very closely, the prosecution of two Muslim clerics and a Christian recently arrested with human parts around the Agbarigo area of Eleyele, Ibadan.
MUSCOYS, at a press conference on Saturday addressed by its chairman, Alhaji Ishaq Kunle Sanni, described the act of the three suspects apprehended on October 17, 2023, as abhorrent and antithetical to the teachings of Islam.
Sanni was flanked at the press conference by MUSCOYS Secretary-General Alhaji Murisiku Siyanbade; MUSCOYS Missioner Dr Dawud Amoo Alaga; Vice Chairman, Ibadan Muslim Community, Alhaji Abubakar Olasupo; Coordinator, National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations (NACOMYO), Oyo State, Alhaji Dawud Afolabi, and other Muslim leaders across Ibadan and beyond.
He said the news that gained currency most in the last few days not only in Ibadan but the whole country was that of the three suspected ritual killers.
The Muslim leader stated that the crime became sensational news, with people wondering what Islam has to do with using human parts for occultism to become wealthy.
“Islam is the most monotheistic religion in the world, and it frowns at bloodletting in all its ugly manifestations. To take a single soul in Islamic nobility is a serious offence to the extent that it is analogous to killing the whole of humanity.
Poverty has pushed people to the Rubicon of devilry, and Muslims are not immune from this criminality. What is most disheartening is to find Muslim scholars aggressive in the satanic pursuit of inordinate and stinking wealth.
“Insha Allah, we will pursue the present case to its logical conclusion. Cases of this nature should be nipped in the bud,” he said.
Alhaji Sanni disclosed that the League of Imams and Alfas led by the Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Alhaji AbdulGaniy Abubakri Agbotomokekere, would set up a committee where mallams suspected of engaging in practices alien to the Islamic culture would be reported for investigation and punishment which, he said, may lead to ostracism. According to him, such cases may also be reported to the security agencies if needed.
He urged parents to be watchful of the mallams “teaching our children the knowledge of Islam,” noting that some mallams, from the investigation, do not disseminate the knowledge of Islam in its pristine form “but more often than not, teach about kufr (faithless) methodology of making ends meet, most unfortunately money ritual.”
He added: “While we call for caution and appeal to Muslims not to take the law into their hands, we want the public to know of our preparedness to follow the prosecution of these men of evil to its logical conclusion
