Stakeholders and concerned Muslims have called on the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to intervene in the Imam tussle in the Ikeja Central Mosque. They said the governor’s intervention was imperative to avert violence in the state capital following the alleged secret turbanning of an illegal person as Imam.
Speaking at a briefing on Tuesday, the stakeholders and the Olowolagba Family of Ikeja, Lagos State protested the way and manner in which the alleged turbaning of one Kamorudeen of Ilo Family secretly took place last Friday.
They expressed their displeasure over what they termed unlawful procedure in the appointment of an Imam.
They explained that the position of the Imam of Ikeja had for long been rotated between the Balogun and Olowolagba families such that the immediate past Imam, the late Alhaji Tijjani Balogun was from the Balogun Family.
According to the family, going by the age-long established procedure, the next person to be legally appointed as Tijani’s successor is Alhaji Afeez Ayinde Olowolagba who had worked for over 30 years in Ikeja and even served as the Deputy to the late Imam for over 16 years.
Alhaji Olowolagba said: “I led all the prayers in the Mosque, including the Friday Jumuat, exclusively for three years while the late Alhaji Tijjani was down with old age weakness before his death.
“It is therefore, a shocking, embarrassing and abuse of procedure, justice and norm in Islamic practice for the Ilo Family to bypass all established procedures and hurriedly turbaned another person.”
A member of the family, Alhaja Rukayat Amoke, added they would not watch and injustice, and cheating to prevail.
She called on the state government to intervene and ensure the right person,
“We are appealing to the Lagos State Government to intervene to avoid bloodshed,” she said.
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