The Oodua People Congress has recommended that the Federal Government consider relocating the capital of Kwara State from Ilorin to a neutral location, should the Muslims in the region decline to accommodate individuals of different religious beliefs.
The state coordinator of OPC, New Era in Kwara State, Comrade Bayo Fabiyi, proposed a solution to resolve the conflict between the Isese adherents and Muslim clerics in Ilorin.
According to the OPC coordinator’s statement on Sunday, there are regions in Kwara state where Isese traditional religion, along with other religions including Islam, are practised peacefully. These areas encompass Kwara South, North, and certain parts of the northern regions of the state.
“There are Muslims in other places cohabiting with their Isese and other religious brothers without crises or disturbances.
“Therefore, if Ilorin is the only place where Isese becomes a challenge, the status of Ilorin as a state capital should be changed while the ancient town can be allowed to remain purely an Islamic place because of all towns in Kwara, only Ilorin is where Islamic extremism thrives.”
While Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, the Emir of Ilorin, is a royal father who should be respected above all, Fabiyi advised that Muslim clerics follow the “deenukum waliya deen” principle of Islam and allow the Isese people to practise their religion without interfering with or disturbing their mode of worship.
He chastised Muslim fundamentalists for ignoring various other significant issues, such as cultism and other causes of insecurity, while selectively confronting Ise groups that are simply practising their faith without interfering with the tranquilly of others.
