The Muslim Ummah of South West (MUSWEN) on Monday rejected
the list of 15 people proposed to represent the Yoruba ethnic group in the forthcoming
National Conference.
The Executive Secretary of the group, Dawud Noibi, who
addressed journalists at the Ibadan house of Abdu-Azeez Arisekola-Alao, the Aare
Musulumi of Yorubaland, alleged the Muslims in the region were deliberately
excluded in the meetings that produced the names.
Although the names on the said list were not presented to
the press, Noibi, a retired professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, said his
group had it on good authority that all the nominees were Christians.
He recalled that MUSWEN had preempted the development and
issued press release to protest their exclusion from the meeting, saying their
protests yielded no result.
"As a way of excluding the Muslims in any decision that
might be taken, meetings were fixed for 1.00 pm on Fridays knowing very well
that the Muslims would attend Jum'at service.
"This happened in Akure and in Lagos. When MUSWEN
noticed this, it issued a press statement to caution on such clandestine move
and warned against its consequence. Yet, the group (South West Leaders)
continued to meet secretly to the exclusion of the Muslim majority in the
region," he said.
MUSWEN, who said its religious interest has already been
represented in the position of Supreme Council of Islamic Affair on the
proposed National Conference, said its grouse against the Southwest leaders is
that it is being marginalised in critical decisions that affect people of the
region.
"We want to make it loud and clear here that we Muslims
in South West region do not recognise the so-called South West Leaders and we
have not mandated any group to represent us at the Confab. Any decision reached
by that group on behalf of the South West region will therefore be null and
void," he said.
The group also alerted the Presidency, Governors of the six
states in the zone, police and SSS to security risk the development could pose
to the region.
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