Sheikh Haroun Ogbonnia Ajah is an Islamic scholar versed in the knowledge and practice of the Islamic religion. He was born into a Muslim family in Afikpo, Ebonyi State by Igbo parents. He is today, not just the leader of Muslims in Ebonyi, he is also overseeing other centres across the South East geo-political zone. In this interview with ZEBULON AGOMUO and NKECHINYERE OGINYI in his house in Abakaliki, Ajah strongly refuted the allegations making the rounds that Ebonyi indigenes were being lured into Islam with money and intermarriage unions. He also stoutly disputed the allegations that mosques were nearly outpacing the number of churches in Ebonyi State and that some facilities belonging to the religion were being used to stockpile arms. Excerpts:
By way of introduction, may we know you better?
My name is Sheikh (Dr) Haroun Ogbonnia Ajah. born at Afikpo in 1956 and educated at Ibadan, London, Saudi Arabia, Enugu and Lomé, Togo. For now, if I lay claim of being in control of the entire South-East, it will not be an overstatement. I am also the founder-president of a grassroots Islamic organisation that has been making contributions here and there as a civil society organisation in Ebonyi State.
I am from Afikpo in Ebonyi state. Islam came to my place around 1958; it was around that time that we were influenced by the religion and embraced it. And after the civil war, I took a scholarship journey out from Afikpo to Ibadan, Oyo State, and from there, I was blessed by so many factors, that I travelled to Saudi Arabia in 1978 and stayed there till 1984 when I graduated. I did Comparative Law (Sharia major) in Islamic University of Medina Saudi Arabia; I came back and did other postgraduate studies.
May we know some of the positions you held or still holding as a leader under your religion?
I am a former Federal Commissioner, JNI, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON 2008-2014). I am also Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman of Da’wah and Guidance Bureau of Nigeria (DGBN); Chairman, BoT, South East Muslim Community Forum (SEMCOF); chairman, South East Muslim Elders’ Council (SEMEC); BoT, member, Abuja National Mosque Trust Fund; Vice President-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and Jama’tu Nasril Islam (JNI); South East coordinator, Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN); Representative of Saudi Arabian Embassy Cultural Attache’s Office in the South Eastern States and Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Rivers States in the South-South of Nigeria.
How would you describe the status of Islamic religion in Ebonyi against the backdrop of an allegation that the number of Muslims is trying to outpace those of other religions in the state?
I don’t know how people came about such an information. To be specific and precise, Muslims are in minority in the entire South-east (Igbo land). To a very large extent, we are first trying to tell people that religion is not by anybody’s making; where you find yourself is where God wants you to be; nobody chooses what to be as religion is concerned. It is the parents (at birth) that choose what religion a child takes to. So, we found ourselves to be Muslims and we know that the reality is that we are in minority in the area. We are even complaining that they are trying to suppress us into non-existence if not because God is very kind to us. The truth is that there are Muslims in every part of Igbo land; that one is not in doubt. Sometimes, I blame some of our leaders who want to play ignorance; because it is hypocrisy to tell you there is no Igbo Muslims to some extent here. They want to use the settlers who are here, who are Muslims (the Hausas, the Yorubas) to undermine the indigenes that are Muslims. I am not a mixed blood. My father is from Afikpo and I am grounded in Afikpo tradition. I have received a number of chieftaincy titles from a number of traditional rulers in Afikpo. I was one of the people the father of Onyebuchi Chukwu, former health minister; gave traditional titles in his chiefdom at that time because he saw that what I was doing related to peace. At that time, there was this crisis between traditional worshipers and other religious people. The Muslims were not actually the target but the Christians were the target and I was organising a peace meeting in a town hall in that area which I invited him to attend and he was there. I was preaching peace and all the masquerades that were trying to make trouble. I told them there was no need for that. So, the traditional ruler was very pleased with what I did. All the titles I received have to do with peace which I preach and pursue after. The truth is there are indigenous Muslims in Igbo land. So, I don’t know where the wrong information is coming from because everybody knows that the South-East is predominantly Christians. In a study that I did, I was able to get about 17 states that Muslims are in minority- five of these states are from the South-East, six from the South-South; we have Ondo, Ekiti in the South-West; you move to the North, you have Benue, Taraba, Plateau, these are all minority Muslim states; so, anybody that wakes up to say there are majority Muslims in Ebonyi state, I don’t know where they are coming from. It is propaganda. You also mentioned the issue of mosques taking over everywhere. The truth is that Islam has been growing in Igbo land despite the government injustice to the Muslims- that one I can say clearly. In spite of the government efforts to blanket the presence of Islam by trying to use settlers (the non-indigenes), they want to create an impression that there are no Muslims that are of indigenous origin of this state. They continue to sing about the Hausas, the Fulanis, Yoruba Muslims in Ebonyi, but it is a propaganda to create impression that no Ebonyi indigene is a Muslim.
I am an Igbo man, and I cannot go against the Igbo interest because my origin is here and that is what Islam preaches. The indigenes promote peace for the good of our land. The Igbo interest is my number one interest too; because I was an Igbo man before becoming a Muslim. God created me to be an Igbo man.
Can we have an idea of how many mosques there are in Ebonyi State?
We have up to 35 mosques in the state; both big and small. We have them all over the place in the state. There are about seven of them in Abakiliki, the state capital. Last October, I under took a field tour, sponsored by Saudi Arabia to identify where the Muslims are; in the whole South East. I went from Enugu, to Abia, from Okigwe to Owerri, Obowo, Aba, Umuahia, Abiriba, Igbere, to Anambra and some other places. If I want to give the statistics, I can say that in the whole of South East we have over one hundred (100) mosques.
There is this allegation that Fulanis and Moslems from the North are coming into Ebonyi with money to lure the indigenes into Islamic religion and they also propagate the religion in the state through intermarriage unions. How do you react to that?
No Hausa person brings money here for anybody for anything. Most of them here are here for their own business. It is part of our cry that we are not seeing the assistance. The Hausas who are here are also suffering as Muslims because the treatment being given to Muslims in the state is the same, even to gain admission is very difficult; they go to their states. If you finish, even to get job is not easy here. So, who is the Hausa man bringing money when the Hausa people who are here are also complaining and suffering?
Do they not marry Ebonyi indigenes?
I don’t know how many Hausa men that are marrying Igbo women (in the real sense of the word) here. Some of the Igbo women married to the Hausas or Yoruba Muslims are already abandoned by those men. From what I know, those of them who came here and get married are by accident. I have families that are abandoned by people they said married them. Most of them we are now taking care of through our own empowerment and social investment programmes. One of the ladies they said her husband is from Niger. He is on the run and abandoned her and the children. One came back to pick up the children; they stopped him and he is on the run. There are no too many of such successful marriages that is solid going on here. They are very few. The predicament we have is that most times when they get into such union, before you know it, they relocate and leave the women stranded; these women will now fall back on us. They are part of my strategic focus now when it comes to empowerment. These men come here to trade. When they come, they just find a woman to stay with, born and procreate. In fact, it is a common practice of those that come to Ebonyi- both Northern Muslims and those from the South West. When it is time for them to go, most times, they abandon those ladies with their children. Some of them have wives in their places and wouldn’t want to go back with another woman and children. Many ladies are falling victim. But to say that Hausas/Fulanis are bringing money to convert people, that is not true. Two prominent Muslim businessmen have helped the Muslim community in Ebonyi State through the supply of rice, spaghetti, sugar and some other food items. But for some time now, such supplies no longer come. Another helped us to renovate our Mosque in the Hausa quarters in Abakaliki. We reached out to him and the intervention came. These are the only wealthy Muslims that have helped the Muslim community in Ebonyi in the past. In fact, last month, the South East Hausa Muslim community sent a delegation to Asari Dokubo because he is one of the fortunate Muslims who have been made. We asked him to help us. So, I want to say clearly that there is no truth in such a statement. It is only the Saudi Arabia people that we can be proud of that our training and sustenance have been coming from.
Part of the allegation is that those mosques are where the Fulanis stockpile arms and ammunition to attack people which is why it would seem that there is always crisis in Ebonyi, particularly in the rural areas of the state. What is your reaction here?
Your correspondent has been here, has she seen any Muslim attacking anybody? No where in Ebonyi would you hear that a Muslim has attacked anybody. It is the Muslims that were attacked at the Islamic Centre some time ago, because of this same allegation you mentioned now that they were stock-piling arms. But the authorities went there and checked and there was nothing found at all. So, it doesn’t happen. We are all peaceful here. We are not violent people. The only time I reacted was in 2018 when the then governor said that we should not use microphone during our prayers/worship. To tell you how deep the marginalisation of Muslims is in Ebonyi; I was supposed to be one of the first line commissioners in the Martin Elechi administration, because I was one of the 20 wise men that put him in power under the Lawrence Nwuruku’s campaign council. All of us were supposed to be on the first line of appointment, but I was denied. I went through the screening process and passed, but I was dropped just because I am a Muslim. Some people who knew my involvement and contribution to Elechi’s emergence wept for me. So, tell me, where would Muslims in Ebonyi get the strength to fight when we are struggling for existence? Even under the current administration, we are still suffering. You will be surprised that few months ago, somebody called me that the governor was doing empowerment for youths in the state, that I should send five names. I sent the names. In pursuing it, I was told that the governor said that Muslims were not being factored into that programme. No Muslim received the N1 million given to each beneficiary for farming. I am saying it clearly that my five names are still there, not attended to.
Have you bothered to really find out the real reason why the Muslim community is being sidelined, according to you? Does it mean there is something the government knows that you do not know?
It is just that we are Muslims and they don’t want Muslims to be in Ebonyi. They say in their own thinking that Igbo man is not supposed to be the leader of Muslims in the state. That is the reason we are suffering. When it comes to the issue of religion, that they don’t want to hear that Igbo man is the leader of Muslims. It is a conspiracy. When it comes to recognising the leader of Muslims, they will pick Hausa man, that’s why I stopped going to courtesy calls; it is an insult to be recognising those under me at the state level. So, I stopped attending state functions. I contested election three times to the House of Representatives; I am a grassroots politician to the core. I am good in mobilisation; they will use you and dump you. In one of the occasions, somebody told me that the conspiracy was the fear that I would Islamise the state. They don’t want to hear that Igbos are Muslims; that’s the problem.
Do you know the population of Muslims in Ebonyi State?
Yes; we have been trying to have a genuine population ratio, but we can put it between 15 to 20 percent of the population. It is estimated that the state’s population is 3.242 million in 2022. So, 20 percent will be about 624 or thereabout. We are minority; I have to be very truthful to you. Many of them come and go; they do not stay here permanently. So, there is no basis to say that the population of, Muslims is more or trying to be more than the Christians in Ebonyi.
What do you want to say to those who may be circulating false information to cause disaffection in the state?
I don’t know their reason for circulating such information; maybe, they are enemies of Islam and Muslims; because they may want to create an opportunity to attack the Muslims. Such people don’t mean well. They are telling people that Muslims are bringing in money to bribe indigenes to convert to Islam. Such people should stop such mischief. When I was running for the chairmanship position of the APC in Ebonyi in 2022, there was a lot of conspiracy against me by the then authorities, and the government in power then sponsored 20 people against me. But good a thing, there was nothing incriminating against. I did not have any skeleton in my cupboard.
Every time people hear about killings in Ebonyi State; what may be the reason for such killings?
Is it true that there are cases of too many killings in Ebonyi State? There is no such thing. I cannot say that there are none, but compared to other states, Ebonyi is peaceful; very peaceful. I give it to the state government, and I give it to the people of Ebonyi State.
