ID CONTROVERSY: SULTAN’S
ANNOUNCEMENT STANDS
30th July, 2014
PRESS RELEASE:
ID CONTROVERSY: SULTAN’S
ANNOUNCEMENT STANDS
An online media outfit published a
story yesterday Tuesday 29th July,
2014 in which it claimed that the
Sultan’s Palace admitted that the
moon was not sighted before the
Sultan made the announcement. The
publication claimed that the Sultan
admitted that he made a mistake
and that the Moon-Sighting
Committee was right.
After painstaking investigation, the
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) can
confirm that the story is false,
baseless and without any iota of
truth. We spoke with the Sultan to
ascertain the truth. His Eminence,
Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar
III, the Sultan of Sokoto and
President-General of the Nigerian
Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs
(NSCIA) reaffirmed his earlier
announcement and denied granting
such an interview.
MURIC can also reveal that the
normal procedure was followed in
arriving at the decision to make the
announcement. On the 29th of every
month of Sha’ban (i.e. the month
preceding Ramadan), the Sultanate
issues a circular and press
statement to all Emirs, Muslim
chiefs and Obas in Nigeria, the 85
District Heads in Sokoto as well as
leaders of prominent Islamic
organizations in Nigeria and the
media that Muslims should look for
the new Moon.
Many states have their own Moon-
Sighting committees and the report
of sighting or otherwise in any state
is scrutinized before sending it to
the Sultanate where a committee of
scholars and council members will
further screen the report according
to the Islamic Shari'a. If found to be
credible, the report will be presented
to the Sultan who will further cross-
check before making the
announcement.
The above procedure was also
followed this year. We assert that
the Sultan took a wise step by
making the announcement after
seeing the credible testimonies of
many Moon-Sighting committees
including those of Emirs from
several states. The findings of the
Moon-Sighting Committee of the
NSCIA could have been
complementary to those of the state
committees without leading to any
controversy or public denials.
MURIC also discovered that the
Sultan’s announcement was
religiously obeyed by approximately
99% of Muslims in the North, 98% of
Muslims in the South East and 48%
of Muslims in the South West. This
shows that the unity of the Nigerian
Muslim Ummah remains solid while
Sultan Abubakar III still enjoys his
usual robust popularity.
We appeal to leaders of Islamic
organizations, Muslim dignitaries
and all stakeholders in the Muslim
Ummah to jealously guard our hard-
won unity and to stand firmly behind
our committed, energetic and
dynamic Sultan. We must not allow
division within the Nigerian Muslim
Ummah . We urge Muslims to shun
violence at all times, to remain calm
and law-abiding and to work
towards a strong and united Nigeria.
Finally, we reaffirm that the
Sultanate did not issue any
statement admitting that the moon
was not sighted before the
announcement was made. We task
all stakeholders in the Ummah to
join hands with the Sultan in
building a virile, progressive and
united Muslim community. We
charge Muslim leaders to put this
incident behind them because there
are greater challenges facing the
Ummah and the country at large. We
must not dissipate energy on the
peripheral leaving the tangential to
wallow.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)