FACT CHECK: Are Christians or a powerful Christian figure undermining Islam in Ogbomoso?
By Our Fact Check Team
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Claim: According to a viral video the Chief Imam of Ogbomoso Sheikh Toliat Olusina Ayilara during a sermon recently accused Christians in the town particularly alleging an unnamed leader of being behind the crisis that has split Muslims in the town, with many believing he’s referring to the traditional ruler of the town His Imperial Majesty Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye Orumogege III, as the central figure Ayilara alleges.
Facts: It’s an open knowledge that the crisis began when a family, the Ayilara family of Oke-Agbede and Isale-Afon, Ogbomoso, cried out that it had been shortchanged by the installation of Sheikh Toliat Ayilara as the Chief Imam of the town. The family is one of the families occupying the Chief Imam position in Ogbomoso and it’s its turn to fill the vacancy. The immediate past Soun late Oba (Dr) Oladunni Oyewumi Ajagungbade III JP CON CFR, turbaned Toliat Ayilara for the position, shortly after which he joined his ancestors.
However, at the time of installing Sheikh Ayilara, a section of the family reportedly protested his selection on the ground that he doesn’t belong to the family by blood. But their protest was drowned in the face of enthusiasm that greeted his choice. Following his emergence, the protests grew more strident with claims that he’s not even of Ogbomoso descent.
The crisis started before the enthronement of Oba Ghandi Olaoye, he inherited it and when it would not subside and he is inundated by the aggrieved with petitions, he instituted a probe on the advice of Muslim leaders to investigate the matter, the report of which was that he (Toliat) stepped aside to enable him prove his consanguinity with the family. But he jettisoned the idea following which he went to court to obtain a restraining order against the directive. The court granted the status quo be maintained until judgement is delivered.
Most titled Muslim leaders in the town including the Parakoyi Adinni, Aare Musulumi, Balogun Musulimi, etc and the League of Imams and Alfas and several other influential groups are backing the Ayilara family that Imam Toliat is an impostor and should step down. These they expressed in many press releases and press conferences.
In the heat of the crisis the Soun appointed a member of the Ayilara family as Imam of Aafin – Sheikh Habeeb Ayilara – on the ground that someone that took him to court should not lead prayers in his palace.
The Ayilara family and those who support them and are opposed to the continued stay of Toliat Ayilara in the position stopped going to the Central Mosque to avoid being led in prayers by Sheikh Toliat, and in 2024 held separate Eid prayers during Muslim festivals signifying the split in the fold.
Nonetheless, in the ensuing melee, the Soun has maintained a dignified silence refraining with great maturity from responding to the tons of abuses persistently hurled at him by the Chief Imam and his supporters, which could have exacerbated the matter.
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Also, there is no evidence of the monarch, a former pastor, undermining Islam, or favouring one religion over the other, he has not mounted the pulpit to preach since ascending the throne over a year ago. In private or public, all what he has emphasizes is that the embattled Chief Imam proves his paternal relationship with the Ayilara family that he has no personal interest in who is Chief Imam.
Likewise, the Christian community in the town symbolized by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has taken no interest in the matter, there is no evidence to prove contrarily.
So, the facts on the ground point otherwise, the earsplitting outburst by Imam Toliat appears thus as mere allegations, assumptions that have neither scientific nor empirical basis. It is purely a case of right and wrong, a call to sidetrack truth feeding on the emotion of the gullible.
Last line: It sounds more like the ranting of a frustrated man seeking to blame others but himself for his perceived woes and sinisterly striving to whip up sentiment and anger against the Christian brethren and the Oba in order to wangle support and stay afloat. The allegations he made are weighty ones that could spark conflicts capable of degenerating into conflagrations in a religious volatile area. Should the Chief Imam of let’s say Kano say something like that that Christians are causing division in Islam, what do you think would have happened? It’s high time something was done.