Isese: OPC urges FG to relocate Kwara capital
A group of traditionalists in Kwara State has urged the Federal Government to consider moving the state capital from Ilorin to another location that is more tolerant of religious diversity.
The group, known as the Oodua People Congress (OPC), New Era, made this suggestion in a statement on Sunday, following a clash between the Isese worshippers and some Muslim clerics in Ilorin.
According to the statement, signed by the state coordinator of OPC, New Era, Comrade Bayo Fabiyi, Ilorin is the only place in Kwara where Isese practitioners face harassment and intimidation from Islamic extremists.
He said that other parts of the state, such as Kwara South, North and some areas in the central zone, have peaceful coexistence among Muslims, Isese adherents and followers of other religions.
Fabiyi proposed that Ilorin should be left as a purely Islamic town, while the state capital should be relocated to a neutral ground that would accommodate all faiths. He said that this would be a way to resolve the impasse between the Isese community and the Muslim leaders in Ilorin.
Also advised the Isese people to respect the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, as their royal father, but also urged the Muslim clerics to abide by the principle of “deenukum wilayah deen”, which means “to you your religion and to me mine”. He said that the Isese people should be allowed to practise their religion without interference or intrusion from others.
Also, he criticised the Muslim fundamentalists for ignoring other serious issues such as cultism and insecurity, and for targeting the Isese groups that are harmless and peaceful. Also, he warned that insecurity in Kwara is caused by the influx of Fulani herdsmen who were displaced from Igangan in Oyo State and settled in Ilorin.
He said that he had raised this alarm long ago, but no one listened to him. He advised that the only way to end insecurity in Kwara is by chasing away the intruding herdsmen who are allegedly involved in the kidnapping.
