By Bashir Adefaka and Damilola Igbedion

Sheikh Abdul-Hakeem Yayi Akorede, the Grand Imam of Akure Kingdom, is the youngest man to lead a versatile community of Muslims in Ondo State, Nigeria. In this interview, he spoke on why he and other Imams Muslim leaders from South West attended what later turned out to be a political meeting with Vice President, Namadi Sambo recently. He advised politicians to always respect the office of the leader of Nigerian Muslim Community and Sultan of Sokoto by always engaging units of Muslims he leads through him as any further attitude will be invalid. Excerpts:

We have heard much about the position of Chief Imam of Akure as very influential being officially recognized Muslim leader by government of Ondo State. How true is it?

The position of Chief Imam particularly of Akure is a religious office. It is not political. That is why we don’t go to the governors office to receive our own staff of office, because it is ordained by Almighty Allah (SWT) and not by government, that the decision on who becomes the Imam is by the Muslim ummah. It was the Muslim ummah of Akure that nominated me to a Shurah (Electoral College) through which process I eventually emerged as the Chief Imam.

We do not go the the government to do any of our things. We are religious people and the process of appointing our leaders is done religiously.

When my father was alive, he did his best but against my thinking that he had done everything, I later realized that there was quite so much more to be done.

During the time of your father as Chief Imam and the Galadima, Alhaji Kasunmu Adefaka as Chairman, the Akure Muslim Community mosque structure was quite different from what it is today. Is that part of the things you discovered that was yet to be done?

Yes. If you look at the mosque, you will discover that it is an all-modern structure. But that is not a feat achieved by me alone. It is the very product of all of us in the Akure Muslim Community because we are a very cooperative unit of the Nigeria Muslim community and we thank Allah for that.

Again, my father was very careful dealing with people in government or in politics. All he did was to relate with them with Hikma (Wisdom). I inherited that from him, despite the fact that he became so old in the position as the Chief Imam of Akure and the first President – General of the league of Imams and Alfas, Southwest, Edo and Delta, My father soiled his hand or destroyed his name by unnecessary mingling with government and politicians. So, he was very highly respected, particularly by all governors of the state including Commodore Bamidele Otiko, now late. But now Commodore Olabode Ibiyinka George, Colonel Moses Fasanya, Colonel Ahmed Usman, Colonel Kayode Opaleye now a brigadier general, late Pa Adebayo, Olusegun Agagu and all others. That was how he played his roles as religious leader to those military and political office holders.

But would you say that is missing today among imams?

Thank you very much. You see people call our fathers illiterate particularly those Islamic Clerics who did not have formal education but they have good Islamic training. I want to start my response to that question by saying that they are not illiterates.

Being able to read, write and understand Arabic language alone shows that they are literate. They used to understand Arabic, they could pronounce it and they could give its meaning. The only thing is that the language they know as their own means of educating is different from English that is used in the formal sector. With that Arabic–based Islamic training they had, they were able to put it into practice the dos and donts and other required etiquette.

Having said that, I will say that the self discipline that our fathers used to display in discharging their religious duties in the society is missing today to an extent. That is the reason religious leaders would not only be seen to mingle with people in government but also speak for them. And so many religious leaders deviate from the path trying hard to satisfy their selfish interest and that of the government without even considering whether or not their actions are in line with dictates of the books of their faiths.

Today, much as we still have many religious leaders who are exempted, there are also many of them who have chosen the person interest in enriching themselves against the personal integrity expected of religious leaders. They work hard to get money no matter what because they believe that pocket is more important than anything else.

But again, I must say that there are some religious leaders who are forced to do what they are not interested in doing. And prophet (May the peace of Allah be upon him said Allah would forgive three sins: the one you did by mistake, the one you did unconsciously or forgetfully and the third one is the one that you were forced to do against your will.

Most of the religious leaders today in the Southwest particularly in our area here (Ondo State), don’t have personal security. It is only by our prayers to Allah that we live and get protected. If you prove to be strong, how would you protect yourself when they come attacking?

So, what they do is try to be in the middle, neither here nor there.

Was that the reason you and other Chief Imams of Southwest attended the meeting in Akure here with President Goodluck Jonathan in the buildup to the Presidential and National Assembly elections held recently?

No. That was not the reason. We attended the meeting where the President was represented by Vice President Namdi Sambo because Allah (SWT) said that we should obey Him (Allah), His messenger and those in positions of authority. The President falls in this category just like the Imam and even people in authority in our respective places of activities and work. We must respect them.

The President invited us and we did not know why he invited us. So, he deserves to be honoured with our presence. Again, we would not know what he wanted to say until you meet. You know that already we are given all sorts of names: Boko Haram, terrorists. If he now invited us and we refused to honour his invitation, you will know how many more names we might be given.

And what, in essence, are you saying?

I am saying that while the religious leaders must not allow themselves to be used by politicians or people in government, they should also know that they have a role of guidance to play in how the government achieve success in their work for the good of the generality of the people. Only Jonathan invited us, no other party did. Whosoever invites us, we should go there and give them advice because if we fail to do so, we may live to regret it when maladministration begins to set in.It is not about endorsing a candidate or not and also not about promising to deliver many votes to them. We can only advice and pray for them.

In a publication of this newspaper where your reaction was also published, it was said that inviting southwest Muslim leaders to Akure by president Jonathan ought to come through the Sultan of Sokoto.

Was there anyway it was viewed as attempt to divide the Muslims of the country?

You we have chosen and have pledge our allegiance to the Sultan of Sokoto His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III as our leader. Even though the president invited us and we went to meet with him already, it is important to make it clear here that whoever at the federal level deals with any unit of Nigeria Muslim Community should do it through our leader that is the sultan. That message inviting us to the meeting here in Akure of Chief Imams of Southwest should have been channeled through the Sultan Because the Sultan is the leader of Muslims all over the country. So whatever anybody would do, that office must be respected. And we Muslims too should let that get into our heads that whoever does that kind of things with us bypassing the sultan in future should be told to come through our leaders. We should know that any know that any message that bye passing him or his delegated authority is invalid. Here I am not talking about the tribe. I am talking about Islam. As far as Islam makes it compulsory on us to respect our leader and we know the sultan to be our leader, we must respect him as such. That explains why I observe and worked based on monthly moon sighting as announced by the office of the Sultan, because I have my allegiance to him. That is also why I always make sure that I get information from his office before I embarked on anything concerning the collective interest of Nigeria Muslim Community.

At this point, what do you say about the attitude of Muslims?

Thank you very much. That question is very simple and so the response is so simple.

Now, for any Muslim to be true representative of Islam, he should be eager to learn, know and follow the teachings of the Qur’an, follow the ways of Prophet Muhammad (peace of Allah be upon him) and help all manners of humanity.

Allah says, “Whatever the messenger as given you, take it. And whatever he has forbidden for you, distance yourself from it and fear Allah”. And the prophet said, “Pray the way you see me pray”. So, for that, you don’t need to go to anybody for anything. Isla is a religion of peace and any act that will make this happen in the society, Muslim should represent it. A Muslim must submit himself to the will of Allah. The problem we have in Nigeria today is because people do not fear God much more that will submit themselves to Him. The unfortunate thing is that they have no choice but to do just that except that they will never live a good life.