By Ishola Balogun and Bashir Adefaka

Before the announcement by the Sultan declaring that the moon had been sighted, marking the end of Ramadan on Satuday July 26, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the Secretary-General of the NSCIA, had been quoted saying: “The new moon has not even been born talk less that it would be sighted today.”

*Ogun Pilgrims at Mount Jabalithaor one of the holy sites in Makkah

He went further to forward a text message at exactly 9.55pm which he claimed emanated from the National Moon-sighting Committee and requested that the message should be spread across: The SMS reads: “As expected the NMC has not received any credible moon-sighting report. Our team in Gwandu has reported that moon has not been sighted. Hafiz Wali.”

A few minutes later, the Sultan of Sokoto declared that the moon had been sighted, marking the end of Ramadan. The announcement was well publicised as it was also aired on NTA.

While some Muslims broke their fast following the Sultan’s announcement, others especially in the South-West region, proceeded to fast on Sunday and observed Eid-il-Fitri on Monday.

Vanguard gathered that the confusion was based on the earlier opinion of the Secretary-General.

The Politics

Vanguard had called the Secretary to the Sultanate Council, Alhaji Attahiru Hussein, at about 8.00pm on Saturday July 26 to get information about the moon sighting. He said: “The Sultan and the National Moon-sighting Committee, NMC, are still in a meeting collating the information. For now, they are getting set for Tarawih. Call me in the next 30 minutes, they must have finished the meeting and then we will know whether the moon has been sighted or not.”

When he could not be reached as scheduled, Vanguard called Professor Oloyede at about 9.32pm not only on the grounds that the Sultan had once given an impression that Oloyede’s not being with the meeting in Sokoto was strategic for him to coordinate the South based on the decision of the meeting in Sokoto but also as the Secretary-General of the NSCIA. Responding to the call, the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin said the new moon had not been sighted, quoting the chairman of NMC, Dr. Hafiz Wali.

But trying to harmonise the professor’s information with the Palace meeting’s, another call was made to the Secretary to the Sultanate Council, Hussein, who, that time around, picked his phone and there was another discordant tunes. He said at that point, no one could pre-empt the outcome of a meeting that had not been concluded.

His words: “The meeting has not yet finished. They are still on. The committee is still collating its report. We cannot pre-empt the committee now because their meeting is still on. I mean the committee, here, has not decided. I am not a member of the committee. It is only after the meeting and they bring out their report that I can verify what you said you heard,” he said. Immediately after the meeting members of the press were addressed that the new moon had been sighted hence the directive to end the Ramadan’s 29 days of fasting.

Information gathered from all over the country showed that the Sultan’s directive was fully complied with in all regions except the South West and Kwara State where compliance was put at 48 percent. Of the few in the South West that complied, Akure Muslim Community under the leadership of Sheikh Abdul Hakeem Yayi Akorede and the rest Ondo State Muslim Community complied and prayed on Sunday based on the directive of the Sultan. Akorede, during the Eid session, warned against flouting the leadership of the Sultan especially over the issue of moon-sighting, adding that it was tantamount to sinning against Allah because, he said, “It is sin to fast today (Sunday) that is Eid day.”

More worrisome to many was the allegation that Yoruba members of the NMC excluding the NMC national secretary, Abdullahi Shuaib, held a meeting in an undisclosed venue in Ibadan on the day Nigerian Muslims are supposed to be observing the Eid-il-Fitr. When contacted, one of them, Dr. K. K. Olosho, said, “We are in a meeting now. But I must tell you that there is fasting today (Sunday) and so tomorrow (Monday) is Sallah.”

Vanguard’s photo journalist, who was at the Obalende Praying Ground on Sunday to cover the Eid prayer, found no one as he said the the gates to the grounds were under lock and key, meaning that the Lagos Muslim Council did not comply with the Sultan’s directive. Also, Sheikh Abdulrahman Ahmad, it was gathered, failed to lead his congregation on that Sunday as directed by the Sultan. Ahmad is said to be a member of the13 Yoruba on the NMC set up by the Sultan.

Again, tongues have continued to wag in ways that cast doubts over on people’s minds on how the same Chairman, NMC, Dr. Hafiz Wali, who was actively involved in the moon-sighting.

When contacted for comment, National Secretary of the National Moon-sighting Committee, NMC, Imam Abdullahi Shuaib, said there was no way a committee set up by the Sultan could be above the Sultan that set it up. He however sued for caution in the matter, saying Muslim unity should be the central focus of all.

“Apart from Oloyede that I know made a release before Sallah and then the Sultan made his release, which supersedes his own, all other people that are said to have made comments, I have neither read nor heard them.”

“All I can say now is to tell our people to be very cautious and be patient because this issue will sort out itself. My own personal view is that the leadership of the Muslim Ummah is the Sultan. He set up the moon-sighting committee and the committee set up by him can never be above him. We do not have second leader of the Ummah, so we must pay allegiance and obedience to the leadership of the Sultan.

“Even if you do not like the information he is giving out, he is still the leader. That is what will unite us and make the Ummah to be one. If everybody is now becoming the leader issuing fatwa from different angles, we are balkanizing the Ummah, which is not in the true spirit of jihad and leadership in Islam. That is what I told people. I heard the Sultan, clearly, make the announcement on the television. That is my leader. He speaks on our behalf and it does not behoove us to start making unnecessary comments about that. And I will not want to make any comment about this until we finish collating our report, otherwise, talking here and there will not help anybody,” Shuaib said.

Director of Muslim Rights Concerned, MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola, sensed that somebody was feeding the public with wrong information about the moon-sighting information.

Akintola said: “Have you seen a publication in Premium Times that the Sultan’s Palace denied sighting of moon Saturday night? I noticed in that report that they said ‘Sultan’s Palace’. They did not say ‘Sultan’. So, what is going on there? May be somebody is feeding the press with wrong information. That attitude is an affront to the leadership of Sultan,” he said.

In the meantime, Vanguard can authoritatively report that the Sultan is currently working on putting up an emergency meeting of the leaders including members of the NMC to discuss the controversial development.

“I heard people talking about Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and North America not having sighted the new moon and thereby declaring commencement of fast to be on Sunday. If you ask me, I would say we should follow Saudi Arabia in the matter of moon-sighting being that it is the home of Islam in the world and it determines the month and day of Hajj and Arafat. But this is Islam and the religion has laid down rules that guide how Muslims should practice it. Even Saudi Arabia had declared new moon-sighting, about three times, and found that they were wrong. They then said later that people should fast one day to pay back,” the Sultan had told Vanguard during the early days of Ramadan.