By Abubakar Imam
The recent killing of a young, beautiful, vibrant and promising final year student of Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin, Miss Hafsoh Yetunde Lawal, by a suspected criminal, who, unfortunately, is being described as an Islamic cleric, is a disappointing and heart-rending occurrence. It marks the lowest moment in our community as we are about entering the blessed month of Ramadan.
This unfortunate incident and such other perilous ones, no doubt, have the potential of damaging the alluring reputation of our great community. This is a reputation inherited from the industry, integrity, piety and sacrifice of our heroes past, many of whom remain unsung.
This particular incident is even more disturbing considering the brazen wickedness with which a lady was butchered and the fact that both the victim and the suspected ritual killer are indigenes of Ilorin. Yes, Ilorin, my dear home, which is always described as “an abode of scholars, saints and soldiers” by indigenes, residents and adversaries. It is incredible that we have found ourselves at this juncture of beastly mindlessness.
This unfortunate development, however, reminds me of a story that I heard about 30 years ago. It was reported while we were gisting as secondary school students, then.
It was during that year’s Idel Kabir festival. The friend, who told me the story (now deceased), said that as they were busy dismembering the several rams slaughtered by his family members as common in Ilorin, a senior member of the family quoted the first Grand Mufti of Ilorin, Shaykh Muhammad Kamaluddeen Al-Adabiy, as saying in one of his public preachings that he never did two things in his life.
The first thing was that he had never slaughtered a chicken in his entire life. Chickens remain the commonest domestic animals human beings are at liberty to slaughter, most especially for consumption.
The second thing that the late pious founder of Ansarul Islam Society of Nigeria was quoted to have also disclosed was that he never had an extramarital affair.
My late friend told me that one of those who witnessed the discussion was a student of an Arabic School, who, while reacting, said that he could kill a fellow human being if not for the fear of finding himself on the wrong side of the law. He obviously lacked sanity and believed that with courage he could do anything.
Before and since 1985, so many ritual killings and similar crimes have been reported within and outside Ilorin, particularly and unfortunately among young men who called themselves Alfas. This is happening as the community, through some of its illustrious indigenes, who are also Alfas, broke several records in Islamic learning and related fields and concomitantly placed the community on the global map of excellence in scholarship.
The point I am making here is that as we have many who are emulating the erudition, decency and piety of Shaykh Kamaluddeen and his likes among the clerical class and the very few deviants in the other group, the community is beginning to have potential killers who could do anything for money provided they would escape justice. This act of insanity and bestiality must be stopped.
Since the recent incident, I have read many comments calling on Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) to rise up to the occasion. Yes, the callers are right because the Union is the umbrella sociocultural organisation of the good people of the Ilorin Emirate. It is also the mouthpiece of the community, an Emirate unfortunately getting blackmailed by those who should project, protect and preserve its sanity.
However, those who are making the call appear not to have taken into cognisance the repeated efforts of the Union at eradicating the menace of ritual killings and other ills from our community. This is being done through a series of enlightenment campaigns on several radio stations and collaborations with the constituted authorities. Maybe this effort is not sufficient and needed to be stepped up.
Just like many other crimes, ritual killing has been on for decades.It will not stop itself if we don’t act decisively. Or have we forgotten the case of “Bolohunduro se ki sa ase ohun lo pa Omo je”? I used to hear the song when I was young and I was told that the incident happened here in Ilorin, probably in the mid-1970s.
In a similar development, this author almost fell prey to a ritualist during his childhood here in Ilorin but for a boy who was a few years older who called him back. I will never forget the incident, which happened around 1978 at a place that I would not want to mention.The last time I visited the place of the incident the particular house where my story would have ended was in complete ruin!
The point I am making here is that we know the rightly guided clerics among us. We are also not unaware of the pretenders and their patrons and collaborators. They all live among us and in our various communities.
We should all remember that the more we honour those who don’t have any recognised source of income, the more the numbers of these potential criminals in our community fester.
I also want to suggest that stakeholders should follow this latest matter to logical conclusion. This is the only way we can bring this kind of dangerous trend to a halt.
The project of ritual killing eradication should not be left alone for IEDPU to tackle. It requires collective efforts. We must all join hands to fight it to a standstill. Every neighbourhood association should fight it as drug addiction and hooliganism are being fought.
We should not be afraid to speak out. Covering bad deeds is not part of patriotism. It is also unislamic. It is our civic and religious duty to cry out where and when necessary. We should always “say something when we see something”.
Ilorin ko ni baje ooo. Amin.
Imam is National Secretary, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union.
