The Ijebu Muslim Community has thrown its weight behind the Ogun State House of Assembly on the Bill which will allow traditional rulers in the state to be installed and buried in accordance with their religious beliefs.
In a letter signed by Shaykh Imam Miftaudeen G. Ayanbadejo and Shaykh Imam Ejalonibu President and Secretary respectively of the League of Imams and Alfas of Ijebuland, the Muslim Community made available to ogundaily.com/ correspondence in Abeokuta on Monday.
“Mr. Speaker! It is instructive to inform you that burial of Obas in accordance with their religious beliefs or faiths has been a practice in Ijebuland for more than two decades. Undoubtedly, this practice is championed by His Royal Majesty, Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Kayode Adetona, Ogbagba II, the Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland and further endorsed by the Ijebu Traditional Council.”
Read the letter below:
16th of March, 2020
Rt. Hon Olakunle Oluomo
The Honourable Speaker,
Ogun State House of Assembly,
Okemosan, Abeokuta,
Ogun State.
Dear Hon. Speaker,
Ogun State Rulers (Installation and Burial Rites) Bill 2020: Ijebu Muslim Community Backs Ogun State House Assembly
The Ogun State Rulers (Installation and Burial Rites) Bill 2020, sponsored and co-sponsored by distinguished Hon. Akeem Balogun (Ogun Waterside State Constituency) and Hon. Akeem Amosun (Constituency), has continued to generate public reactions and discourses, especially from the traditional worshippers in the State. The legal framework, when passed into law and assented to by the Executive Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, will modernise the traditional institution of Obaship in Ogun State by expunging repugnant and obnoxious traditional practices that characterise the burial and installation of Obas. May we categorically, therefore, state that the entire Muslim Community in Ijebuland is in support of this Bill.
Mr. Speaker! It is instructive to inform you that burial of Obas in accordance with their religious beliefs or faiths has been a practice in Ijebuland for more than two decades. Undoubtedly, this practice is championed by His Royal Majesty, Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Kayode Adetona, Ogbagba II, the Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland and further endorsed by the Ijebu Traditional Council. This was made pursuant to the Oba-in-Council Resolution on Burial of Obas agreed to in March 1997 (re-enacted in December, 2016). Although the resolution is not backed by law, but a pragmatic attempt by the traditional institution in Ijebuland to engender reforms in the respect for human dignity and promotion of modernity. So, the Muslim and Christian communities have, by this resolution, conducted burial rites for a number deceased Obas in Ijebuland according to their religious stipulations.
On its part, the League of Imams and Alfas of Ijebuland, representing the Ijebu Muslim Community, specifically led the Janazah for the following deceased Obas:
Late Oba Shafi Sule, the Olu of Odosenlu-Alaro
Late Oba Kamoru Sansi, the Obelu of Esure buried on Thursday, 10th of January, 2019 at Esure
Mr. Speaker! The Ijebu Muslim Community agrees with the raison d’être of the sponsors and supporters of this bill that traditional rulers should never be subjected to inhuman and degrading practices during their installation and burial. Doing so will be tantamount to denial of their fundamental human rights enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and other regional and global human rights instruments, especially the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and African Union Charter on Human and People’s Rights, which advocate human dignity.
While urging Ogun State House of Assembly under your watch to expedite legislative actions on this important bill, we would like to pledge our support for other bills and policies of Ogun State Government that have bearings on the citizenry.
Yours faithfully,
Shaykh Imam Miftaudeen G. Ayanbadejo Shaykh Imam Ejalonibu
President, Secretary,
League of Imams and Alfas of Ijebuland League of Imams and Alfas of Ijebuland
