The Council of Ulama (Islamic clerics) in Kwara State has warned those planning to celebrate the traditional festival in Ilorin, the state capital, to take it away from the metropolis in the interest of peace.
Speaking with journalists today the executive secretary of the council, Justice Salihu Mohammed, who is a retired grand Khadi of the state and flanked by imams from the 16 local government areas of the state, made the position of the council known at the residence of the chairman of the Council of Ulama and Chief Imam of Ilorin, Sheikh Mohammed Bashir Salihu.
Justice Mohammed said the council needs to make it abundantly clear that they are not against the celebration of the Isese festival, but what is important to let the whole world know is that the people of Ilorin, have absolutely nothing to do with it.
He said that the insistence of the youth wing of the International Council for Ifa Religion to hold their festival in Ilorin on August 20, 2023, posed a danger to the security of lives and property across the state, warning that the Ifa festival, under any guise, would not be allowed in any part of the five local governments that made up the Ilorin emirate.
While appealing to Muslim youths and other stakeholders to exercise patience, Mohammed appealed to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq “to direct all the security agencies in the state to take note of this threat to the peace and security of the state.