A coalition of 29 pan-Yoruba groups has rejected the planned introduction of Sharia law in Yoruba land, warning that its introduction cannot improve the economic, political, social, and cultural deficit in the region but inflict poverty, corruption, high mortality rate, terrorism, violence and unprecedented human misery that had characterised states in Northern part of the country where the law had been in practice.
It be recalled that a group of Muslims are planning to commission Sharia panels in Oyo and Ekiti states, a development which is currently being opposed by different interest groups.
The coalition gave this position in a signed statement, titled: “Historic position of pan Yoruba groups on Sharia Law and Yorubaland,” a copy of which was made available to newsmen in Lagos, saying that the planned introduction was a “plot to destabilise Yorubaland through organised sponsorship of divisive, retrogressive and dangerous proposals that will end up causing confusion, disunity and raise the spectre of intra-Yoruba conflict to the delight of our eternal foes.”
The coalition, while noting that Islam is a religion of peace and that Yoruba Muslims were proud of the place of Islam in sustainable development in the region, however, said as true representatives of Yoruba people, it strongly opposed the introduction of Sharia in any part of Oduduwaland, including Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Delta, Kogi, Edo, Kwara and Ondo states, maintaining that Sharia is not feasible and can never be acceptable to a multi-religious and muti-faith people like the Yoruba.
According to it, Sharia is only applicable in societies where Islam is the state religion or majority of the people profess Islam, saying that the claim made by its proponents that the law was for only Muslims cannot stand because “the contradictions are self evident.”
“We state clearly that the introduction of Sharia cannot improve the economic, political, social, and cultural deficit in Yorubaland.
“That Yorubaland though seen as the most economically developed territory in West Africa, attained this feat not through theocracy but by the hardwork, commitment, determination of our forefathers who were both Muslims, Christians, and Traditional worshipers.
“That we observe a conscious and tailor-made plot to destabilise Yorubaland through organised sponsorship of divisive, retrogressive, and dangerous proposals that will end up causing confusion, disunity and raise the specter of intra-Yoruba conflict to the delight of our eternal foes.
“We, the true representatives of Yoruba people hereby strongly oppose the introduction of Sharia in any part of Oduduwaland of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Delta, Kogi, Edo, Kwara, and Ondo.
“That Sharia is not feasible and can never be acceptable to a multi-religious, muti-faith people like the Yoruba; Sharia is only applicable in societies where Islam is the state religion or majority of the people profess Islam.
“Though proponents of Sharia claim the law is for only Muslims, but the contradictions are self evident. The Yoruba are bound by blood, history, common fear and shared aspirations, not by religion,” the coalition stated.
“How can anyone in his right senses conceive Sharia law in a society where Muslim parents have Christian children and Muslim husbands have Christian or even animist wives and vice versa?
“There are Yoruba Muslim parents whose children do not go to Mosque and Yoruba Christian parents whose children are Baba or Iyalawo.
“This freedom of faith which has enriched Yoruba civilisation for centuries is what religious extremists, rabid and riotous fanatics and religious anarchists, sponsored by international terrorists are desperate to destroy, fortunately, to their own peril, at the fullness of time,” it added.
Speaking further, the coalition maintained its opposition against the planned introduction of Sharia law, saying that the aim of its proponents was to destabilise the South West and uproot the very foundation of democracy under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, having destabilise the North.
It alleged that the intrigue was political and sponsored by vested interests, aimed at polarising the political and electoral fortunes of Yoruba nation who for many years had largely defined a common political future, saying that no great nation would wish to have different laws for its own people of the same history and the same heritage.
“We hereby warn religious bigots and extremists, including very naïve and shallow-minded political actors to desist from their evil plots or they will face the full wrath of Yoruba people,” the coalition warned.
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