There was violence in Ikun Ekiti, in the Moba Local Government Area, on Tuesday as masqueraders attacked Muslims in the Central Mosque for allegedly disturbing the Egungun festival.
The
incident took place at sunset around 7pm when the Muslims had gathered in the
mosque to observe the Maghrib
prayer after breaking their fast.
It
was learnt that the masqueraders were irked that the Muslims called for prayers
when they were still celebrating Egungun
(masquerader) festival.
The
masquearders reportedly attacked the worshipers and inflicted injuries on many
of them.
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| Masquerade, Bello and the Mosque |
About
five of the worshipers were said to have sustained varying degrees of injury.
The
hoodlums were said to have vandalised the two cars parked at the entrance of
the mosque.
The
Acting Imam of the mosque, Alhaji Abdul-Rasak Abubakar-Bello, was rushed to the
Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, where he received stitches
on his head.
Speaking
from his hospital bed with our correspondent, Bello said the Muslims were held
hostage in the mosque for four hours by the masqueraders.
“There
was no way we could escape because they were waiting for us outside after
initially attacking us inside the mosque. When we succeeded in locking
ourselves inside the mosque, they started throwing stones at us,” he said.
Bello
accused the Divisional Police Office in the area of snubbing the distress calls
made to him by the Muslim community as he refused to send his men there.
The
Muslim community accused the traditional ruler of the town, Oba Olatunde
Olusola, of supervising the attack.
The
National Council of Muslim Youth Organizations, in a statement jointly signed
by the state Coordinator, Tajudeen Ahmed, and the Secretary, Musa Tijani,
accused the king and the police of complicity in the attack on the Muslims.
The
NACOMYO statement read in part, “HRH David Olatunde Olusola, was said to have
written a letter to the Muslim Community of Ikun Ekiti to ensure that their
women stayed indoors.
“The
Muslim Community of Ikun Ekiti ensured total compliance by keeping all their
female members indoors.
“While
the innocent and fasting Muslims were being tormented, some of them made
frantic efforts to reach out to the police authorities at Ikun to come to their
rescue, but the DPO ignored them.
“On
our part, we condemn the invasion of the Ikun Ekiti Central Mosque by the
masqueraders. We see the invasion as an abominable act that is most
sacrilegious. It is a clear cut defilement of the sacred mosque and an
unnecessary provocation of the Muslim faithful.”
Reacting,
the Onikun, Oba Olatunde Olusola, said he had written a May 26 letter to the
Muslim community in Ikun, where he appealed for cooperation to avoid any
trouble.
He
said, “There has always been crisis between them because the shrine is very
close to the mosque; that is why we took the step of informing the various
bodies to avoid trouble.”
He
added that the Muslim community had met with the traditional council and they
had agreed that there would not be noise during the time of the procession.
“I
gave them another option of using the other mosques in the town instead of the
one close to the shrine, all in a bid to avert trouble.”
“In
the full glare of everybody, when the Egungun
(masqueraders) procession was coming at about 6.35pm or 6.40pm, the call for
prayers began and it was a surprise to everybody.
“I
sent my chiefs to intervene immediately, or the matter would have escalated and
it would have been a very bad situation. If they had done their prayers
quietly, there wouldn’t have been any crisis.”
The
Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti State Police Command, Mr. Alberto
Adeyemi, said the clash between the masqueraders and the Muslims had been
brought under control and normalcy had been restored to the community.
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