AGEGE HAUSA COMMUNITY CENTRAL MOSQUE DEBACLE: COURT REMANDS 4 OVER MOB ATTACK, THREAT TO LIFE
By People’s Voice Nigeria | News
Musa Shu’aibu Sarki, being evacuated into the waiting NCoS armoured van for delivery to Kirikiri prisons as remanded by court.
A magistrate court in Lagos State on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024, has remanded four persons in the Kirikiri prisons over the offense of mob and threat to a citizen’s life.
Findings by this news medium have revealed that, contentions over custody and the transparent running of the popular Arewa Community Central Mosque, otherwise known as Mosalashi Alaja, in Agege, is at the centre of the issue, leading to a mob attack and threats to the life of one Alhaji Muhammad Hadi Bala, who available records as contained in a memorandum of understanding (MOU), jointly assented to by the contending parties, is the chairman of a steering committee approved by a combined Lagos State government team comprising members of the Lagos State House of Assembly and personnel of the Lagos State Ministry of Home Affairs.
Further checks have also shown that, the contentious issue has been on for a while and got to a head when a renovation work initiated by the steering committee drew the ire of the opposing party, said to be backed by the palace of the Seriki Hausawa of Agege, thus, attracting the attention and necessary intervention of relevant government agencies in Lagos State, to ensure peace and harmony was not breached under any guise.
The latest skirmish that has led to the remand of four persons including one of the sons of Seriki Hausawa of Agege, Musa Shu’aibu DogonKadai, Salihu Abdullahi Sallama, an aide of the Seriki and one Garba Dogari, the palace guard, happened on Monday, April 1st, 2024; the steering committee had just concluded meetings with public spirited citizens and NGOs on imminent plans to roll out Ramadan cum Iftar packages, when the chairman of the committee, Alhaji Muhammad Hadi Bala, suddenly came under mob attack by a crowd led by the Seriki’s son, also known as Bala and Salihu, the seriki’s aide, as he made attempt to drive away in his car.
In the glare of the world, the dangerously charged mob as led by Bala and other palace agents, charged violently as they tried to force Alhaji Muhammad Hadi Bala out of the driving seat of his vehicle to pounce on and potentially Lynch him; the victim only escaped by a stroke of divine faith and from there, he went straight to the area G command headquarters of the Nigeria Police in Ogba, where the case was reported, leading to the prosecution of the mob champions in court as provided by the laws of the land.
It is noteworthy to state that, Tuesday’s violent attempt on the life of the Mosalashi Alaja steering committee chairman, is the second on record; precisely on the 22nd of May, 2022, the same Bala, supported by Salihu again and their gang, had in a similar fashion made attempt on the life of Alhaji Muhammed Hadi Bala, when they violently attacked him in his office, located at number…along the popular capitol road in Agege; the traumatic experience took a huge toll on the life and functionality of Alhaji Muhammed Hadi Bala, as he has continued to frequent hospitals and health facilities within and outside Nigeria; he only recently returned from India where he went to undergo health examination again, a situation, his physicians have linked strongly to the shock and trauma of the experience of previous attack by the same gang led by Bala, Salihu and others, that are determined to snuff life out of him, looking at the pattern of their calculated serial attacks on him.
A cursory look at the inherent motive behind the attackers unlawful actions, has largely fingered their grouse with the overwhelming disapproval of the shoddy and unaccountable management of the entity by people said to have been put in charge by the Seriki Hausawa of Agege, Muhammadu Musa DogonKadai, thus, members of the Arewa Community have persistently demanded for a change of guard to engender effective and efficient stewardship.
A brief tale of the past undoings by the management committee put in place by the Sarki of Agege, depicts an unsavoury picture, where shanties being let out to persons with questionable characters, were being erected in and around the Mosque , commercialized toilet and bathroom was also erected without proper plan, approval and accountability to say the least, which in the opinion of the larger community, was at cross purposes with physical planning and environmental provisions of the Lagos state built sector laws.
In an attempt to correct the anomalies, several efforts and resolutions were activated, one of which was the reconciliatory parley of September, 2020 as overseen by the combined representatives of Lagos State government comprising members of the community and inter-religious committee of the Lagos State legislature and personnel of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
As a responsible citizen, desirous of exercising his full existential and fundamental rights, I, Alhaji Muhammed Hadi Bala, the subsisting chairman of the Arewa Community Central Mosque, otherwise known as Mosalashi Alaja in Agege, Lagos working hand in hand with the subsisting committee members, will exploit every lawful means there is, to set the records right, side by side with the untiring resolve to get full blown justice for my trampled rights and most importantly the continued attempts on my life and livelihoods by any person bent on enliven injustice under any guise, our laws are clear and we shall pursue prosecution to the fullest length of the laws as enshrined in Nigeria’s constitution, said he, Alhaji Muhammed Hadi Bala, chairman of the Mosalashi Alaja steering committee Agege, Lagos State, Nigeria.
