Collapsed mosque: MURIC urges govt to rebuild edifice, compensate victims

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has urged the Lagos State Government to immediately re-build the Al-Mutmahinat Central Mosque, situated at Yusuf Street, Papa Ajao, Mushin, Lagos State, which collapsed last Sunday and to also compensate the family of 11-year-old Anifat Yusuf, who died in the incident and other victims. The Executive Director, MURIC, Prof. Ishaq […]

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has urged the Lagos State Government to immediately re-build the Al-Mutmahinat Central Mosque, situated at Yusuf Street, Papa Ajao, Mushin, Lagos State, which collapsed last Sunday and to also compensate the family of 11-year-old Anifat Yusuf, who died in the incident and other victims.

The Executive Director, MURIC, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said this on Wednesday in a statement.

The group also sent a delegation to the home of the bereaved family and made five demands which include the rebuilding of the mosque by the Lagos State Government (LASG) within six months, November 2024 and compensation for parents of the victim.

The organisation’s three-man delegation was led by the chairman of MURIC in LAGOS State, Dr Busari Jamiu Muhammad, where they met the Imam of the mosque, Alhaji Lukman Qasim Olokuta and also visited the house of the victim and commiserated with the bereaved parents.

“Contrary to the common belief that three people died as a result of the accident, our delegation found out that only one person died. The victim was Anifat Yusuf, 11, who was one of the students of the Arabic school in the mosque who were billed to graduate (walimah) in August this year.

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“The late Anifat Yusuf was also a JSS 2 student of The Ultimate Secondary School, a private school at Ashofihan Street, Olorunshogo, Mushin. She had entered the mosque briefly to observe Zuhr, the first afternoon salat but, unfortunately, she never came out alive. “In view of the fact that the excavator which caused the calamity was working on the road expansion project embarked upon on that street by LASG, we now demand that the LASG rebuild the mosque within six months without reducing its original size and without compromising its standard.

“Pay adequate compensation for families left behind by the breadwinners killed in the accident; pay the hospital bills of the injured; refund burial expenses of the 11-year-old girl who died; and arrange for the welfare of the imam of the mosque and his family until the mosque has been rebuilt, handed over to the community and become functional,” Akintola said.

He also said that MURIC will maintain constant consultation with the mosque’s imam to ensure that these demands are met.

He said, “Anifat’s father died five years ago and her mother, a widow of five years, has now lost the daughter whom she was hoping would one day be her breadwinner, her succour and her companion. This widow’s home at 25, Bello Street, Papa Ajao, which used to be filled with laughter, is now the abode of sorrow, tears and misery. LASG must take responsibility. Anifat must not die in vain.

“Besides, a whole Muslim community whose only Central Mosque has been pulled down by an erratic excavator driver is now rendered ‘mosqueless’. They have become spiritual Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) or, more correctly, Internally Displaced Worshippers (IDWs).