Islamic Affairs Committee To Chief Imam: Resolve Paternity Issue With Ayilara Family Or Leave Office Amid Rift With Monarch, Soun Ogbomoso
The ongoing feud between the Soun of Ogbomoso and Chief Imam Sheikh Ayilara has its roots in a legal dispute that began when Ayilara sued the monarch and the Soun In-Council to challenge their attempts to remove him from his position as Grand Chief Imam.
The Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs Committee for Ogbomoso has asked the embattled Chief Imam of the town, Alhaji Talihat Yinusa Olusina, to resolve the controversies surrounding his paternity with the Imam Ayilara Family rather than seeking external support to undermine the authority of the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye.
The Soun and Chief Imam have been in a supremacy battle in the last few months.
The ongoing feud between the Soun of Ogbomoso and Chief Imam Sheikh Ayilara has its roots in a legal dispute that began when Ayilara sued the monarch and the Soun In-Council to challenge their attempts to remove him from his position as Grand Chief Imam.
Ayilara, who was installed in November 2021 under the previous Soun, claims his appointment was legitimate and in accordance with Islamic principles, having been sanctioned by the Surah committee of Ogbomoso’s Muslim community.
However, the dispute escalated after the new Soun’s ascension to the throne in September 2023. The monarch soon contested Ayilara’s continued tenure as Chief Imam.
Ayilara’s legal action, filed at the Oyo State High Court, aims to secure his position and highlights a significant conflict between religious independence and traditional authority in Ogbomoso.
Justice K.B. Olawoyin of an Oyo State High Court sitting in Ogbomoso in June barred the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Afolabi Ghandi Olaoye and kingmakers from removing Ayilara as the Chief Imam of the town.
However, last week, the monarch installed Habib Ahmed Adekunle Ayilara as the Chief Imam of Soun Palace.
The Soun, Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye, noted that the newly installed Chief Imam would be responsible for the mosque in his palace, a move interpreted by supporters of the embattled Chief Imam as a plot to replace him.
The Aare Musulumi of Ogbomoso and Chairman of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs Committee for Ogbomoso, Abdulganiyu Atanda Owodunni, who responded to comment on the issue by the Olugbon of Orile-Igbon, Oba Francis Alao, described Alao as “mere attention seeker” who was only commenting on what he had no knowledge about.
The Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs Committee, which warned those castigating the Soun of Ogbomoso to desist, re-affirmed that it was within the authority of the Soun to interfere in any matter involving Chief Imam, saying, “It is rather unfortunate many based their comments on the religious faith of the occupier and not on the institution of the Soun.
“The throne of Soun transcends an individual or his religious faith; the Soun throne is Soun throne irrespective of the religion of the occupier, that is the mistake many make. If the present Soun is a Muslim he would have acted in a similar manner.”
The Olugbon of Orile-Igbon, Oba Francis Alao, had thrown his weight behind the embattled Chief Imam of Ogbomoso, Talihat Ayilara, saying traditional rulers lack the power to sack religious leaders.
However, the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs Committee for Ogbomoso defended the Soun in a statement issued on Thursday.
The statement read, “We found inappropriate the recent comment by the Olugbon Oba Francis Alao on the festering crisis of Chief Imam of Ogbomosoland.
“He made certain inauspicious claims, which constrained us to respond so as to dispel the misconstruction and misrepresentation he projected.
“We repeat that the Chief Imam crisis in Ogbomoso is not about our revered Kabiyesi His Imperial Majesty Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye Orumogege III, but about truth and lie; right and wrong; honesty and dishonesty; righteousness and unrighteousness.
“There are six Chief Imamship families in Ogbomoso of which Ayilara family is one and is their turn. These families rotate the position and it is what has been in existence since 1818 when the first Chief Imam was appointed by the Soun. The Soun of Ogbomosoland built what is today Ogbomoso Central Mosque on the Soun royal family land within the then Palace.
“Soun has been the sole authority appointing the Imam of the Mosque, who is now regarded as the Chief Imam of Ogbomosoland, since 1818. No Court has vacated that authority and the Muslim Community in Ogbomosoland never contested that authority. It is the present Chief Imam, Alhaji Teliat Yinusa Olusina, that has ever engaged in such impunity.
“The problem started when the Ayilara family found out he is not related to them by blood. Naturally, they raised an alarm. They petitioned the Soun who is the highest authority on the Central Mosque, and he instituted an investigation led by a Muslim. The committee recommended that Teliat should resolve the matter with his family. A simple matter of proving his paternity with the family and providing indisputable evidence he has allowed to degenerate into this crisis. This same Teliat once said he had 14 siblings but none of them had come out to defend him.
“We the League of Imams and Alfas, the Special Committee of Islamic Affairs in Ogbomoso and other Muslim Leaders and Organizations stand by this decision too. But he started blackmailing us and the Soun, instead of proving his paternity with the Ayilara family.
“So, Olugbon’s comment is in bad taste. Olugbon declared unflinching support for the Chief Imam that has been insulting a Crowned Head like him. That shows his capacity as a leader. In all his commentaries he never referred to the real cause of the imbroglio, that is, the issue of Teliat’s paternity with the Imam Ayilara family, which has consistently maintained that he is not one of them and does not represent their family house, as the chief Imam.
He said the Islamic Affairs committee and League of Imams and Alfas, as the stakeholders of Islam for Ogbomoso “have told Teliat that unless he resolves his paternity crisis with the Ayilaras, he cannot continue as the Chief Imam of Ogbomosoland, a recommendation that we have made to the Soun of Ogbomosoland”.
