Kwara State Police Command has begun a manhunt for a Muslim cleric, identified as Alfa Ismaila Ayodeji, for allegedly threatening to harm some traditionalists in Ilorin, the state capital.
The man, in a circulated three-and-a-half-minute video, had visited a shop said to be owned by a female traditionalist and where fairly used TV sets are sold in Alaran community in Ilorin.
The man, accompanied by some others, was seen in the video boasting that the state commissioner of Police, Ebunoluwarotimi Adelesi, was aware of his visit to the shop.
The Muslim cleric accused the traditionalists of holding traditional religion (Isese) meetings inside the shop as against selling TV sets.
He also told the Alaran community, which rented out the shop to the female shop occupant and her people, as shown in the video, to issue a quit notice ro the tenant and refund the rent.
The man, Ismail Ayodeji, in the video also gave a week deadline for the people to vacate the shop and threatened that his return with others in his group would be catastrophic.
The Muslim cleric in a white jalabia dress, holding a stick, said that the state commissioner of Police, Ebunoluwarotimi Adelesi, was aware of the visit to the shop.
“We know all your strength. We want you out of here. Move to the outskirts of the town to do your thing. When we meet you here next week, we’ll know who owns the land between the two of us. We’ve been told that you were chased out of Oko Olowo area of the state capital for practising traditional religious worshipping before you relocated to this place. Don’t let us meet you here next week when we come back. If not, try me and see.
“We admonish you, the Alaran family to chase them away. We know what we came up with. But we only exercised restraint because of you; the Alaran community. So, chase them away before our return. We won’t want the blame to come upon us that you weren’t told. We’ve honoured you enough, the Alaran family. If this shop is open at all by the time we come back, something else may happen”, he said.
The traditionalists in the shop, who included about five males and a female in the video, only sat down and refused to speak while the man went on to rain his threat.
Some members of the Alaran community, whose voices could also be heard in the three-minute video explained that the people told them that they would only sell fairly used TV sets and not use the place to hold Isese meetings.
The members of Alaran community also discouraged some of their people who threatened to damage the TV sets during the interaction between the Muslim cleric and the traditionalists.
Reacting to the development on Sunday afternoon, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ajayi Okasanmi, said that the effort to arrest the man is ongoing.
“There was no way the Commissioner of Police would sanction an illegal action of the alleged cleric, please”, he said.
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