NSCIA explains support for Qur’an festival
The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) under the leadership of its President-General and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has given reasons for supporting the planned Qur’an festival slated to hold in Abuja, on February 22nd, 2025. Speaking with Daily Trust, the Secretary General of the NSCIA, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, said […]
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The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) under the leadership of its President-General and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has given reasons for supporting the planned Qur’an festival slated to hold in Abuja, on February 22nd, 2025.
Speaking with Daily Trust, the Secretary General of the NSCIA, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, said the event was not for any reason other than the unity of Muslims for national development.
He said the idea was not from one organisation, adding that some organisations had the plan and gave the idea to the council before it was adopted and taken over.
“The idea came from Muslim organisations and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs adopted it that it is a good thing to be done. That is why we are part of it. This is about rallying the unity of Muslims,” Oloyede said.
Another official of the NSCIA, told Daily Trust that the festival is a celebration of Nigeria’s Muslims’ long-standing culture of Qur’anic knowledge, and aims to bring together all Muslims under one banner, to showcase their gifts of knowledge of the Qur’an and to foster unity and national stability among citizenry.
“A total of at least 50,000 people including Qur’an memorisers, writers, reciters and calligraphers from across the country and other parts of the world are expected to participate in the festival,” he said.
He said the event will be used as an opportunity to collectively pray for peace, continued stability and prosperity of the country.
Daily Trust reports that the event tagged; ‘Qur’an Festival, @NgQuranFestival, is scheduled to take place on February 22, 2025, at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja. It also gathered that a website has been opened to that effect, capturing the activities that will take place during the event.
Security concerns
It was gathered that the event is an initiative of the Jamaatu Izalatil Bida wa Ikamatus Sunan (JIBWIS) under its National Chairman, Sheikh Bala Lau.
“But due to security concerns and other issues surrounding the planning of the event, the council (NSCIA) had to take over and strengthen collaboration with some others to ensure its success,” an official told one of our correspondents.
The official, however, allayed security concerns around the event, adding that the involvement of the NSCIA was to ensure adequate security and logistics needed for the success of the planned event.
It would be recalled that in a recent statement, Sheikh Ibrahim Idris, a prominent cleric from JIBWIS, addressed claims circulating on social media regarding the upcoming event.
In a video shared online, Sheikh Idris emphasised that the event was being organised by the NSCIA under the leadership of the Sultan of Sokoto, not by JIBWIS alone.
He explained that the gathering was not a festival, but a conference designed to serve as a seminar and interactive session for Quran reciters and interpreters across the country.
According to him, the event would provide an opportunity for participants to engage in discussions and share knowledge, aiming to improve the understanding of the Quran.
Event will make a difference – Sheikh Lau
In a video posted on the Facebook page of JIBWIS, the national leader of JIBWIS II, Sheikh Bala Lau, announced that the festival will take place in Abuja, a week before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
According to Lau, the inaugural event is expected to bring together at least 30,000 individuals who have committed the Quran to memory.
Lau said, “We are organising a Quran Festival. It will impress you. We notice that in Nigeria, there is a strong distinction between those who commit the Quran to memory in an orthodox way and the conventional reciters who are mindful of its rules. They should have a get-together to deliberate.
“Again, there are those who memorise and even write the holy book, but there is no gathering that converges them. So, by the grace of God, before Ramadan, all the Islamic sects would gather in Abuja, irrespective of their ideologies. There is nothing that unites us like the Quran. It’s our common ground”.
Lau added, “We will be listening to Quran recitation in different voices. There is the recitation with a Yoruba accent that will hold Yoruba Muslims spellbound, and there is another form of recitation that resembles the Arab accent, as well as our orthodox form of recitation.”
Police, DSS operatives to secure event
Another official of the NSCIA told Daily Trust that the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun, Director General of Department of State Services (DSS) Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi; as well as all the heads of military and para-military security agencies, will handle security of the event.
It was also learnt that the number of participants expected at the stadium would be strictly adhered to, and that there would be giant screens outside the perimeters of the stadium for those who may not be able to gain entrance into the main-bowl or those who prefer to stay outside.
Tinubu, others expected
It was also learnt that letters had been dispatched to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and his deputy, Barau Jibril, Reps Speaker Abbas Tajudeen as well as principal officers at the national and some states assemblies, to attend the event.
Also expected at the event are the 36 states governors and FCT minister, some other ministers, wealthy and influential personalities and foreign missions in the country among others.
A notice on the event sited online reads: “The Nigeria Quran Festival 2025 was born from a deep reverence for the enduring tradition of Quranic memorization and intellectual excellence in Nigeria.
“For centuries, individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds have dedicated their lives to preserving the Quran in their hearts and minds.
“This festival is more than just an event; it is a platform to honour those who recite and write the entire Quran from memory. It is also a space where Nigeria’s cultural diversity shines, with participants bringing their unique voices, accents, and traditions to this remarkable display of spiritual and intellectual brilliance.”
It listed the objectives to include: To promote the profound heritage of Quranic memorisation; nurture intellectual achievements; and to inspire unity among Nigeria’s diverse cultures through a celebration of Islamic excellence.
“The festival will be a recurring event that will take place annually,” the notice reads.
Daily Trust reports that despite efforts by those behind organising the event, some individuals have kicked against it, saying it is politically motivated.
Speaking on the planned event, the 5th Wazirin Katsina, Prof. Sani Abubakar Lugga, cautioned Islamic scholars against participating in the event which he described as “playing with Islam and the holy Qur’an for political purposes”.
Lugga linked the Qur’an festival to the national recitation of the holy Qur’an organised after the political crisis caused by the annulment of the 12 June 1993 election.
He attributed the recitation to the death of the three major actors in the crisis.
“The Muslim-Muslim ticket was thrown on Nigeria during the 1993 elections and it brought tension in the country. The aftermath of this led some politicians to gather Islamic scholars on the 8th of November, 1997. A month after the recitation, 8th December, Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’adua died in prison and six months later, on 8 June 1998, Gen. Sani Abacha died while on 7 July, Abiola too died.
“This chaos was between them because they were playing with the Quran.
“The same Muslim-Muslim ticket was produced 30 years later in 2023, that one was 1993 and we are witnessing another tension with hardship for people in the country. Instead of us holding on to Allah, some people want to repeat what happened in the past by bringing together Islamic scholars to recite the holy Qur’an in Abuja. I am pleading with the scholars that will be invited to remember that playing with religion for political purposes will have consequences. I am pleading with them to fear Allah and continue to seek his forgiveness, peace and solution to the hardship in the country but not to add to it.”
Also, a member of the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN), who does not want his name in print, criticised the event and described it as a political exercise to curry favour from the current administration.
The source said no one should be willing to hold such a huge event with the current hardship people are facing in the country.
He added that the council was not in support of the event and will not be part of it.
“Whenever you see us supporting this government, that means the government has changed its policies to ease the hardship. For us to ask people to support this administration for a second term is not possible,” he said.