IN the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most merciful. After the creation of the State of Osun from the old Oyo State by the General Ibrahim Babangida’s government in August, 1991, there arose the need to have forum for all Muslims to meet minds on critical issues. The immediate period after the creation of the state witnessed Muslims operating at cross-purposes hence the ability of government to use certain groups against others.
This was so because there was no centre to hold all Muslim groups in the state together. There was no unanimity of purpose because group interests superseded the overall interest of the Muslims in the Umniah, Hijrah, celebration of the Islamic calendar, which ought to bring all Muslims together, created divisions because different groups operated separately. It was against this background that some indigenes from the state met at Munna, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during the Hajj in 1997 and conceived of an idea to have a forum . The idea of the forum was to bring together all Muslims in the state to have a common purpose.
An incident that instigated/spurred the meeting was a fire incident at Munna after the Arafat of that year. The swift response to the fire incident and how it was put off provoked them to ask themselves what would have happened back home in Nigeria. It was at the Osun State camp tent at Munna that some Muslims of the state extraction that a robust discussion ensued on the need to facilitate unity for the state.
The following people were elected in the year 2014 to steer the ship of’ the organization for the next four years (2014-2018), They were:
Sheikh Salaudeen Olayiwola, President, Alhaji Mustafa Olawuyi, Vice-President I Alhaji Sadiq BelloVice President II; Sheikh Adiyatullah Abdul Rasheed Vice-President ill Alhaji Hashim Olapade, Secretary, Others were: Alhaji Abdul Waheed Opoola, Treasurer Mallam Kehinde Gbadamosi, Financial Secretary. Alhaji Abdul Lateef Olayanju, Public Relation Oflicer Alhaja Ramat Omisore Auditor Alhaji Gazaliy Ibraheem Assistant Financial Secretary and Banister Qaasim Odedeji, Legal Adviser, The rest were:
Alhaja Adewoyin Hamdalat, AlhajiHaashif Adegoke, Alhaji Bashir Olasunkanmi Alhaji Moshood Lawal All Ex-officio members. To complete the team are co-opted members into the Executive Council.
They are:
Alhaji Gazali Bamgbade, Dr Fatai Makinde and Alhaji (Engr) AbdulKareem Adesokan. The body is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission The then secretariat at -2A Egbatedo Street, Osogbo became too small for the Umrnah, hence the need for a bigger, spacious, and decent secretariat. It was resolved that proceeds from Hijra celebration should be committed to the purchase of land for the new secretariat and an Islamic centre.
This was done in2006.
The project, which is now in use, is situated along the East Ring Road ByePass, Surulere Estate, Osogoo.