Nigeria is the only country in the world
whose Muslim faithful are celebrating
Eid-El-Fitri (the end of Ramadan
festivities) today following the
controversial announcement by the Sultan
of Sokoto, Abubakar Sa’ad, on Saturday
night that the new moon of Shawwal was
sighted in some cities across the country,
PREMIUM TIMES can report today.
This newspaper gathered, through
extensive investigations and interviews
with leading Islamic clerics, that the
Ramadan fast in other parts of the world
would only end today (Sunday), with the
Eid-El-Fitri celebrations holding on
Monday.
The Chairman of the Nigerian National
Moonsighting Committee, Hafiz Wali, as
well as a member, Sheikh Habeebullahi
Al-Ilory, told PREMIUM TIMES that in
no other country was the sighting of the
moon reported by anyone.
“It will interest you to know that Nigeria
is the only country celebrating Eid-El-
Fitri today,” Dr. Wali said. “That is
because it is the only country where
people claimed they sighted the moon.”
Dr. Wali said his committee advised the
Sultan that it was impossible for the moon
to be sighted on Saturday but that the
Sokoto monarch came under pressure
from people who claimed they sighted the
moon.
“By the estimation and calculation of our
committee, the moon could not have been
sighted and we did not sight it,” the moon
sighting committee chairman said.
“We gave a report that the moon was not
sighted but the Sultan received a lot of
messages from people who said they
sighted the moon. The Sultan could not
tell them they lied. He made his
announcement which is the right thing to
do.”
Mr. Wali said he and his committee would
however continue the search for the new
moon on Sunday night and that the Sultan
and other NSCIA officials would be
briefed on the outcome of the exercise.
In his own comment, another member of
the moon-sighting committee, Sheikh Al-
Ilory, the Rector of the Marcaz Institute of
Arabic and Islamic Studies, said the
Sultan’s announcement misled Muslim
faithful in the country and made Nigeria
the only country on earth observing the
Eid celebration on Sunday.
“The moon was not sighted anywhere in
the world,” Sheikh Al-Ilory said. “As at
11:00 p.m. on Saturday, our committee
advised that the moon was not sighted but
the Sultan still went ahead to announce
the end of Ramadan. I’m just wondering
why we have to do this to Islam. Is our
own moon different from the rest of the
world?
“As far as we are concerned, tomorrow
(Monday) is Eid-El-Fitri.”
Sultan Sa’ad, who is also the President of
the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic
Affairs, NSCIA, had around midnight on
Saturday announced the sighting of the
new moon and therefore the end of
Ramadan.
“The new month of Shawwal was sighted
in different places within Nigeria and
therefore tomorrow (Sunday) is the first
day of Shawwal equivalent to 27 July
2014,” the Sultan said in an announcement
aired on the Nigerian Television
Authority [NTA].
The Sultan made the announcement
despite receiving the report of Mr. Wali’s
Moon-Sighting Committee that the moon
was not sighted.
But when contacted after the Sultan’s
announcement, the Secretary-General of
the organisation, Is-haq Oloyede, a
professor of Islamic Studies, said he was
not aware that the moon had been sighted.
“I spoke to the Sultan about four times
tonight and he did not tell me that the
moon has been sighted,” Mr. Oloyede told
PREMIUM TIMES. “In any case, any such
claim is ridiculous and unscientific. It
cannot be right.
“The National Moonsighting Committee
has not informed us of any credible
sighting of the moon. Rather, they said the
moon wasn’t sighted. The new moon was
only born at 11:45 P.M. tonight (Saturday)
and it will take several hours for it to be
sighted.
“Is our own sky different? Is our own
moon manufactured in Nigeria?”

Source ----www.m.premiumtimesng.com/news/165660-moonsighting-controversy-nigeria-only-country-in-the-world-celebrating-eid-el-fitri-today.html

Lmao with all due respect where did HRH sight his own Moon...not all state celebrated today though.

Much ado about the moon....lol...

Fp pls, thank God i fast today

Lol....so funny moon ko osupa ni