Kwara Muslims using police to torment Isese adherents - Ifa priest

Some states in the southwest, including Lagos, Osun, Ogun, and Oyo, declared last Monday as a public holiday for Isese adherents to celebrate their annual festival, which fell on Sunday, August 20, 2023.

However, the story was quite the opposite in Kwara where the dominant Muslim population vehemently fought against any public celebration of the Yoruba traditional religion in the state.

It all started when some leaders of the traditional worshippers designated Ilorin, Kwara's capital, as the venue for the 2023 World Isese Day.

However, many Muslim clerics and preachers in the state rose against the plan and threatened to disrupt the celebration. Pulse reported that some clerics even visited the residence of an Osun devotee, Adesikemi Olokun, in the city of Ilorin and warned her to desist from hosting the Isese festival.

With tensions rising between the opposing sides, the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, pronounced a ban on the proposed cultural festival in the state, a decision backed by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.

The state police command also issued a statement warning traditional worshippers in the country to relocate the celebration to another state.

The police statement claimed that “Intelligence available to the command does not favour the planned celebration."

Reacting to the development in an interview with ThePunch, the Ifa priest condemned Governor AbdulRazaq for taking sides.

"My view about this is that the governor of Kwara State has not done well. When you’re a leader of a state and you want peace in the state, you won’t stand with some people against the other. In Ilorin, there are Christians, Muslims and traditionalists. We all have equal rights under the law," he told the paper.

 "If Christians are celebrating Christmas, will they stop them from their celebration? Will they ask them not to do their activities for Easter? When they have public vigils, is there anyone that stops them from doing that? Has there been a time when Muslims were stopped from celebrating Eid Al-Adha? We can see all of them doing these. Why is it that they draw the line when it comes to Isese Day? What is the reason why traditionalists are being picked out and being fought against? Olosunde asked.

The Ifa priest described as unfortunate the position of the Kwara police in the entire saga, alleging that Muslims in the state are using the force to victimise traditional religious worshipers.

He said, "What the Kwara Police Command did with that press release is a disgrace to democracy. The police are saying that they are tools in the hands of Muslims in Kwara State and they are being used by Muslims in Kwara State.

"The Christians in the state would have also seen it by now that if something goes wrong, the Kwara State Police Command will support the Muslims against them even if the Muslims are wrong.

"I think what the police were established for is to ensure orderliness when there is disorder. What the police were meant to do was to provide security on the day of Isese celebration to protect the lives of traditionalists. When we had an almost similar case in Ile-Ife, that was what the police over there did.

"They (police) didn’t only release a press statement, what they did was a threat and it just shows to us that they are mere tools in the hand of a religion and they are not to be trusted in the state for truth."