The Chief Imam of Lagos Central Mosque has locked up all the offices in the Central Mosque with the aid of bouncers and fierce looking hanger-ons, on Tuesday 7 April, 2025, thereby preventing administrative staff from doing their work and Executive Council and its important committees from having their meetings.

This recent development followed the Chief Imam’s letter to the Executive Council, on April 7, 2025, notifying that he would be taken over administrative activities of the Central Mosque “in compliance with the court order” issued by Hon. Justice Edward Allagoa of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos on February 26, 2025, “to take over the mosque affairs pending the determination” of the suit filed by Alhaji Femi Okunnu (SAN) and two others.

However, in his reply to the Chief Imam, the Baba Adinni of Lagos, Alhaji Sikiru Alabi-Macfoy, said, he advised the Chief Imam to retrace his steps immediately from these ill-advised and reckless acts, in the interest of peace and order, in the interest of our Mosque and for the observance of all that are decent, honoured and good. He should retrace his steps out of respect for the Court and the Hon. Chief Justice Edward Allagoa who gave his gentlemanly advice for him to take charge of Ramadan Lecture for the duration of the holy month in the interest of peace and harmony in the Mosque. Perhaps, we should enlighten the Chief Imam more on the limits of the purported order from Court on which he justify the illegal action he has been taking recent times, especially the ones since yesterday, April, 7th 2025.

Meanwhile, the Chief Imam has singlehandedly selected a 14-man “support team” that would run the affairs of the Mosque with him. However, the Baba Adinni, along with other credible insiders, said most people selected by the Chief Imam “are outsiders”, having no or little connection to the Central Mosque. Some they said had radical ideologies that could be inimical to the interests of the Mosque, and could undermine the peace, harmonious coexistence progress of the Mosque, Muslim Ummah in Lagos Island and even that of Lagos State and beyond in general.

Alhaji Sikiru Alabi-Macfoy warned that”the four quarters or communities (Isale-Eko/Idumota, Oko Faji, Olowogbowo and Popo Aguda/Brazilian Quarter), have spiritual, emotional and financial attachment with their Mosque and have being nominating for centuries their representatives to the Executive Council, including the current one that the Chief Imam wanted to illegally dissolve would resist him and his “co plotters”. For their actions would be a gross violation of the Mosque’s registered Constitution and assault on over 2-century old valued tradition which had worked for them.

Alhaji Sikiru Alabi-Macfoy enlightened the Chief Imam that the court order he “relies on does not mandate him to lock the offices of the Executive or any other part of the Mosque. He is just taking the laws into his hands, and we shall report him to the relevant authorities. We also advise the Chief Imam to open those offices forthwith. The said order, which to his knowledge, is already being challenged, does not also mandate him to set up a parallel body to the Executive Council of the Mosque. There is no order stopping the Executive Council from holding its meetings. The Council is not, in any event, a party to the action. So, he should please caution himself.”
He concluded that the Lagos Central Mosque “is owned and controlled by the communities of Lagos Island; it has never been owned or controlled by any Chief Imam or any by one person.”

THIS IS THE FULL TEXT OF
OF THE BABA ADINNI, ALHAJI SIKIRU ALABI-MACFOY’S RESPONSE TO THE LETTER BY THE CHIEF IMAM OF LAGOS, SHEIKH SULAIMON ABU-NOLLA, DECLARING HIS INTENTION TO TAKE OVER THE MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAGOS CENTRAL MOSQUE FROM THE EXCUTIVE COUNCIL AGAINST THE EXTANT REGISTERED CONSTITUTION OF THE MOSQUE

Assalamalaykum warahmatullahi wabarakhathu,

We have received a letter addressed to the Executive Council of the Lagos Central Mosque signed by the Chief Imam of Lagos, Sheikh Sulaimon Abu-Nolla declaring his intention to take over the administration and management of the Mosque from Monday 7th, April 2025.

The Chief Imam wrote in the letter that his action was in compliance with the “Order” purportedly delivered on February 19th, 2025, by Hon. Justice Edward Allagoa of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos Division, mandating him to do so. The Chief Imam went on that he would yield administrative control of the Mosque only after the resolution of the substantive suit, and that to this end, he has selected his “Support Team” to work with him in the running of Mosque!

We are alarmed by the list of people the Chief Imam assembled to run the Mosque with him. It confirms what we believe all along that his actions are motivated not by the interest of the Mosque but by his desperate, inordinate and self-centered ambition for absolute power in the Mosque.

The people the Chief Imam singlehandedly selected to run our Mosque with him are: Alhaji Ganiu Labinjo, Rear Admiral Sura,judeen Olanrewaju, Alhaji Tajudeen Ojikutu, Alhaji Shuaib Buraimoh, Otunba Saheed Lawal, Eng. Nasir Giwa, Alhaja Folashade Lediju, Alhaja Fatimoh Oyefeso, Alhaji Tunde Danmole, Barrister Bakare (Representing Niji Kazeem-SAN), Barrister Ridwan Ayanbiyi (Representing Dr. Kemi Pinheiro-SAN), Barrister Hassan Lawal (Representing Dr. Kemi Pinheiro) and Imam Shakiru Gafar.

We observed that most of these people the Chief Imam selected are mostly outsiders, with very little or no connection with the Lagos Central Mosque; a couple of them are noted for their radical ideologies, hostile to the over two centuries old cherished tradition of our Mosque, inimical to its interests and potential threat to the peace and order in the Islamic community of Lagos; we have noted that some of members in his proposed team are the representatives of the Plaintiffs’ lawyers contesting the long concluded appointment of the Baba Adinni of Lagos and administrative rights of the Executive Council in the regime he is serving as the Chief Imam!

We are aware that the Chief Imam is already taking steps in the unfortunate misadventure by directing his bodyguards- bouncers- to lock the doors to Secretariat, and he has stationed them at entrance of the main gate of the Mosque.

We therefore advise the Chief Imam to retrace his steps immediately from these ill-advised and reckless acts, in the interest of peace and order, in the interest of our Mosque and for the observance of all that are decent, honoured and good. He should retrace his steps out of respect for the Court and the Hon. Chief Justice Edward Allagoa who gave his gentlemanly advice for him to take charge of Ramadan Lecture for the duration of the holy month in the interest of peace and harmony in the Mosque. Perhaps, we should enlighten the Chief Imam more on the limits of the purported order from Court on which he justify the illegal action he has been taking recent times, especially the ones since yesterday, April, 7th 2025.

The court order the Chief Imam relies on does not mandate him to lock the offices of the Executive or any other part of the Mosque. He is just taking the laws into his hands, and we shall report him to the relevant authorities. We also advise the Chief Imam to open those offices forthwith. The said order, which to his knowledge, is already being challenged, does not also mandate him to set up a parallel body to the Executive Council of the Mosque. There is no order stopping the Executive Council from holding its meetings. The Council is not, in any event, a party to the action. So, he should please caution himself.

The Chief Imam cannot by the order, replace with his proposed “support team”, experienced members of the Executive Council, who have been duly nominated by their peoples and thus representing their respective wards from the four divisions in Lagos Island namely: Isale-Eko/Idumota, Oko Faji, Olowogbowo and Popo Aguda/Brazilian Quarters. This was the way since over 200 years; it should remain the way now, as the system has been working for us fantastically well.

No! The Chief Imam of Lagos Central Mosque cannot be an administrative head, as no Chief Imam has ever combined this very complex and taxing functions with equally enormous responsibility of the spiritual head. This will be a tragic violation of the sanctity of our Mosque. He should not let this aberration start from him. For, the people of Lagos, who own the Mosque will surely resist.

The advice offered by the Honourable Justice Allagoa that the Chief Imam should take charge of Ramadan Lecture, has in no way mandated him to take charge of the administrative activities of the Central Mosque. And so he has no right to want to take charge of the “Mosque affairs” while acting on this short, inadvertently wrongly worded phrase. This mischievous deliberate liberal interpretation of the phrase, on a suit whose merit has not been heard, is an insult on the collective intelligence of all Lagosians and particularly an insult to Justice Allagoa and his court.

It is on our record that the Chief Imam has taken several actions contravening our registered Constitution and valued tradition, since he was appointed as the Chief Imam in 2017, and it is in public domain that the Chief Imam has taken several irrationally actions recently. It should be recalled that the Chief Imam reported to the Police that the Baba Adinni, Alhaji Sikiru Alabi-Macfoy, was preventing him (Chief Imam) from carrying out his spiritual duties, “in contravention of purported order,” which the police acted upon to invite the Baba Adinni to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba for questioning and immediately arraigned him at the Saint Anna Magistrate Court on March 19th, 2025. The adjournment date is April 16th; the entire Lagosians are waiting to hear how the Chief Imam can prove this ridiculous accusation.

Legal experts and luminaries, including our lawyers, Messers Adekunle Oyesanya LP Esq, have consistently pointed out that the order the Chief Imam has did not emanate from the “proceedings of the court; so it could not be the order. Adekunle Oyesanya LP Esq reiterated that the only order of the Court pronounced by Honourable Judge Allagoa “is that all parties should maintain status-quo.” This, they believed, “is the order” that everyone should adhere to for the sake of peace and prevention of breakdown of law and order. A more than cursory comparison of the court proceedings and the order will confirm that maintenance of the status-quo by all the parties is the order of the Court.

But, the Chief Imam’s actions since he got this mysterious “order” are in direct contradiction to the real intentions of the Hon. Justice Allagoa. The Hon. Judge wanted peace, but the Chief Imam has repeatedly been taking steps to cause confrontations and engender crisis.

The Chief Imam has deliberately used the order to mislead the Police who have been acting on it to frequently visit the Lagos Central Mosque and to invite, on many occasions, individual members of Executive Council and administrative staff to their Stations.” He has, on the excuse of implementing the order, asked for enhanced police protection, even when he surrounded himself with retinue of muscle-bound bouncers and fierce looking hangers-on.

The Chief Imam has written to our banks to stop our financial transactions with the intention to paralyze administrative activities. He has written to our banks asking for permission to open new bank accounts in the name of the Lagos Central Mosque, and when he was refused, he threatened them with Court action on the basis of the purported order.

The Chief Imam has succeeded in creating this atmosphere of fear, apprehension, repressed anger, suspicion and uncertainty in the House of Allah (SWT) because of his acts that bordered on intimidation and harassment. He has done many unpardonable acts, but we have been condoning his actions as our priority is peace and order in our Mosque and great our State-Lagos.

We have implored the Chief Imam to see reasons why he has to amend his ways; we have invited prominent Muslims and Lagosians to prevail on him; we have prayed for him, hoping for a better cooperation from him. All to no avail. It has become obvious to us that the Chief Imam desired this crisis to create an excuse for the actualization of his obsessive idea of taking over the administrative affairs of the Mosque and use it as a springboard to spread his “Revolution” to all other mosques in Lagos and environs.

WE HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE THAT THOSE BACKING THE CHIEF IMAM ARE UNAWARE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL OBJECTIVE BEHIND HIS DETERMINATION TO TAKE OVER THE LONG-STANDING ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS OF THE MOSQUE. WE HAVE IT ON RECORD THAT THE CHIEF IMAM HAS INFORMED IMAMS TO SUPPORT HIS DESPERATION TO SUBVERT THE CONSTITUTION OF THE LAGOS CENTRAL MOSQUE AND THEREFORE CREATE A NEW MODEL OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS WHERE THE IMAMS AND ALFAS WILL FORCEFULLY RECIPROCATE SAME TO TAKE OVER FROM THE MOSQUE ADMINISTRATORS TO THE EXCLUSION OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EXECUTIVE COUNCILS OR COMMITTEES

THIS, IN NO DOUBT, WILL CAUSE A RELIGIOUS REVOLUTION AND SERIOUS RIFTS IN MOSQUES ALL OVER LAGOS AND SOUTH WEST. THE SECURITY IMPLICATIONS WILL BE GRAVE AND NO ONE CAN PREDICT HOW FAR REACHING IT WILL BE. THE MODEL HE ENVISAGES WILL BRING FUNDAMENTALISM TO LAGOS AND SOUTHWEST, IF NOT NIGERIA IN GENERAL.

It is pertinent to note here that the Executive Council has written to the Government, higher authorities, law enforcement agencies and prominent individuals that the Chief Imam had been running, for years, a parallel administration and engaging in many activities that were in clear contraventions of the Central Mosque’s constitution and inimical to the development of our Mosque.

But, this action by the Chief Imam of wanting to take over the Mosque tips the scale; we cannot allow it to happen; the real Jama’atul Muslimeen Council will not allow it; the good people of Lagos, who are spiritually, emotionally and financially attached to their heritage, the iconic Lagos Central Mosque-built by the sweat of their forefathers-, will not allow him. The communities of Lagos own the Mosque, not any Chief Imam, not any other person.

Thanking you for your attention.

Ma Salam.

ALHAJI CHIEF SIKIRU ALABI-MACFOY
BABA ADINNI OF LAGOS AND EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN
JAMA’ATUL MUSLIMEEN COUNCIL OF LAGOS
(LAGOS CENTRAL MOSQUE)