LAGOS
Tens of thousands of Muslims in Nigeria's Lagos State and environs on Sunday prayed for peace as the country heads for presidential and parliamentary elections in February.
"Being a community of God-fearing and law-biding citizens who also believe in the efficacy of prayers, the Muslims of Lagos State have assembled here today to pray to Almighty Allah for peace to reign from now on, before, during and after the general elections," Senator Habeeb Fashinro, an elder statesman and chairman of the board of trustee of the Muslim Community in Lagos State, told gathering Muslims.
He said the Muslim community rejects the pockets of violence in certain parts of the country ahead of the crucial poll.
"We believe that Nigerian Muslims are vital stakeholders in the Nigerian project," asserted Fashinro.
"Muslims are in the majority in this country and anything that happens in Nigeria will affect more Muslims than any other group," added the senator.
Muslim spiritual leaders took turns to pray for the nation and urged citizens to vote wisely with national interest as their priority.
Top government officials and politicians, including candidates from across all divides, were also at the event.
Nigeria is set for a landmark election on Feb. 14 in which incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan will take on Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler running on the ticket of the opposition All Progressive Congress, and several other candidates.
On the same day, voters will also elect members of the federal parliament.
Previous elections in Nigeria have frequently been marred by serious violence, usually following opposition claims of vote-rigging.
Numerous people, including ten university graduates in the national youth service, were killed following Nigeria's 2011 poll.
There is no official data for religious composition of Nigeria because religion and ethnicity have never been part of census criteria or variables.
Muslims, however, are estimated to constitute more than half of the Nigerian population, a claim disputed by the Christian community.
-Impartial-
In a keynote address, Daud Noibi, the executive secretary of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria, urged the electoral body and the security agencies to be "impartial."
"The security agencies must know that we only have one country, theirs is the most tedious of all task during this period for the country," he said.
"They must be above board and be seen to be above board and act as such," added Noibi. "Their neutrality is key. What you say to a party must he repeated to other parties."
The Muslim leader, meanwhile, urged candidates of the political parties to consider addressing the grievances of Muslims.
"The intention of this gathering is one of prayers; however, it would be hypocritical not to reiterate the concerns and agitation of the Muslim community to you," he said.
"The issues are many but I will only mention a few which include hijab, new Higra year holiday, coroner law, crenation of unclaimed corpses, unbalanced political appointments, absence of sharia division in the (Lagos and southwest) judicial system, unemployment of teachers to teach Arabic and Islamic religious knowledge in public schools in the face of abundant qualified teachers," noted the Muslim leader.
He also called on the government to consider making Friday a half-day and rejected "disgraceful/unequal treatment of Imams compared to Christian counterparts," among other complaints.
"I wish to call on all…aspiring to leadership of the state to give a listening ear to these demands with a view to resolving them amicably," he said.
Most Muslim scholars have kicked against the Lagos coroner law and its cremation policies - both of which they say conflict with Islamic injunctions regarding treatment of dead person.
They say that the coroner law delays the burial, which is against Islamic prescription of immediate burial, and unduly empowers the state to take custody of dead person even against the wish of their family.
But the government has insisted that the law is geared towards societal good and does not seek to debase Muslim values.
