JUST IN: We’re To Unveil Shariah Arbitration Panel, Not Court, Oyo Muslims Group Clarifies

The inauguration of the Shari’ah Court scheduled for January 11, 2025 in Oyo Town, Oyo State has been postponed indefinitely.

LEADERSHIP earlier reported that the Oyo State chapter of the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN) had, through a flier sighted by our correspondent, slated the event to hold at the Muslim Community Islamic Centre, Oba Adeyemi High School Road, Mobolaje Area in Oyo town on the said date.

The Shari’ah council explained that the postponement was due to the erroneous titling of the programme as Shariah Court instead of Shariah Independent Arbitration Panel.

A statement on Tuesday by the Chairman of Oyo Muslim Community, Imam Daud Igi Ogun who is the Khadimul Muslimeen of Oyo land, announced the indefinite suspension of the event

Igi Ogun said, “the name of the programme that was erroneously written/titled Shariah Court instead of Shariah Independent Arbitration Pannel” as reason for the suspension.

The planned unveiling of the Shari’ah Court was however greeted with controversies from critics who queried the essence of the establishment of a Shari’ah Court in Oyo community.

Prior to its suspension, the event, as detailed in a flier that circulated widely on the social media had prominent figures including the Bashorun of Oyo, High Chief Yusuf Akinade Olayinka as the Royal Father of the Day.

A social media user, #BabaAjisefa in criticising the plan said, “If you’re silent on this Sharia law saga in the Southwest, then you’re enabling it. We reject Sharia law in its entirety. No to Sharia law in Yorubaland.”

Others argued that such laws would bring no progress to the region, citing examples from Northern Nigeria where Sharia law was already in practice.

Another user, Motolani Alake, connected the issue to larger national challenges, “This Sharia law conversation proves that amalgamating Nigeria was a terrible decision, and true federalism/regional sectionalism or ‘un-amalgamation’ would be the solution. No country should ever be subjected to such extreme religious practices.”