The Enugu State Police Command has arrested a 74-year-old Islamic scholar and Director of the Islamic Centre, Uwani, Enugu, Alhaji Musa Ani, alongside the Sarikin Hausawa of Enugu, Alhaji Suleiman Haruna Sule, over an alleged N100m fraud.
It was gathered that Ani was apprehended by operatives at the Islamic Centre on Friday following allegations of financial mismanagement. Sule, who doubles as Chairman of the United Inter-Community Traditional Council of Chiefs, was reportedly detained on Saturday when he visited the State Criminal Investigation Department to secure bail for Ani.
The arrests were said to have stemmed from a petition filed by Alhaji Ezeani Ibrahim, a tenant operating shops within the Islamic Centre premises.
In the petition, Ibrahim accused the centre’s director of diverting funds estimated at N100m.
However, sections of the Muslim community in Enugu have faulted the allegations, describing them as baseless.
Ani was said to have told investigators that the centre had never handled such an amount, maintaining that its activities are sustained through voluntary donations and offerings from worshippers.
Reacting, the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network condemned the detention, labelling it a humiliation for the Muslim faithful in the state.
In a petition dated March 1 and addressed to the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, the group’s President, Olu Omotayo, argued that the dispute was civil in nature and rooted in internal disagreements within the mosque’s leadership structure.
According to him, issues bordering on alleged mismanagement should ordinarily be handled by the mosque’s steering committee, insisting that the Islamic Centre had never generated or received funds in the magnitude alleged.
The advocacy group further accused the state Commissioner of Police of breaching professional standards by ordering Sule’s detention merely because his name appeared in the petition, without affording him the opportunity to respond to the claims.
CRRAN also criticised what it described as a recurring pattern of effecting arrests on Fridays, alleging that such timing often results in suspects remaining in custody over the weekend without prompt access to the courts.
The organisation called for the immediate release of the two elderly leaders to enable them reunite with their families and observe religious obligations during Ramadan, adding that it had learnt of plans to arraign them before a Magistrate Court for a remand order.
Copies of the petition were also forwarded to the Inspector-General of Police and the Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, urging their intervention in the matter.
Efforts to get a response from the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Daniel Ndukwe, proved abortive as calls and a text message sent to him were not replied to as of the time of filing this report.