The international Council For Ifa Religion,has condemned the illegal arrest and remand of a popular Isese devotee and activist Adegbola Abdulazeez, popularly known as Talolorun (Who is God),calling for his immediate release.
The group argued that Nigeria is a secular nation, which every religion should be respected and have freedom of worshipping and be tolerance with each other.
Talolorun was arrested in Ibadan, Oyo state capital on August 16 and taken to Sanyo Police Station before whisked away to Ilorin, Kwara state by the team from Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Area Command, Ilorin.
He was arraigned the following day for defamation and consequently the presiding judge ordered his remand in correctional centre for 50 days.
He was reportedly arrested for insulting the Emir of Ilorin among other offences.
The International Council For Ifa Religion,in a statement signed by Araba Agbaye, High Chief Owolabi Aworeni, condemned police action,saying the officers are bias for supporting one religion against another.
The statement said: “Taniolorun was arrested in Ibadan on August 16 and first taken to Sanyo Police station before whisked away to Police station in Ilorin. On August 17, he was charged to court for defamation and the judge ordered his remand in correctional centre for 50 days.
“If the Police is not taking side, how can they arrested someone on Wednesday evening and arraigned him on Thursday morning without even telling his family whereabout of him, they don’t allow him to lawyer before his arraignment.
“Nigeria is a secular state,every religion should be respected and have freedom of worshipping but in Ilorin and few other states, reverse is the case.
“Isese devotees are peace-loving people, we are not troublemakers,we simply wanted to celebrate our festivals but were stopped and asked to seek permission. When Muslims want to celebrate Sallah, do they need permission to do this as well? Why demanding such from Isese worshippers?
“Because Talolorun was calling for support for Isese, he was framed up that he defamed Emir, some were saying he burnt Quran, which are far from the truth.
“We are using this medium to call for his immediate release to avoid religious crisis, which is already heating up, two religions are having issue, the law enforcement agency, Police is after one, supporting the other, this is violation of human rights and freedom of worshipping.
“We are calling on stakeholders to call Police authority in Kwara to order, and facilitate the release of Talolorun before this degenerate to avoidable religious crisis”.
