Mufty Of Ilorin Onikijipa Swears With Qur’an To Deny Spiritual Attack On Mudirul Markaz

Prominent Islamic cleric, Sheikh Sulaimon Farooq Onikijipa, the Mufty of Ilorin Emirate, has publicly sworn on the holy Qur’an to deny accusations that he used diabolical means to afflict Sheikh Habeeb Adam (El-Ilory), the leader of the Markaz Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies in Agege, Lagos State, with a mysterious illness.

During a Ramadan Tafseer, a visibly emotional Sheikh Onikijipa called upon divine judgment as he emphatically denied any involvement in Sheikh Adam’s health condition. Addressing the congregation, he declared, “This is the Qur’an, and we are in the house of God. Since I began my life, I have never sworn with the holy book, but I will today.”

He continued, “God, I’m in your house. If I, Sulaimon Farooq, the son of Aminat, know anything about Mudir Markaz’s illness, let the curses in this holy book be mine. I repeat this four times to prove my innocence. But if they are framing me up, let the curses be upon them.”

Onikijipa’s actions were in response to accusations made by Sheikh Habeeb Adam El-Ilory, who, during one of his Ramadan Tafseer programmes, suggested that his illness was not natural but orchestrated through spiritual means. Sheikh Adam had hinted that Onikijipa was behind his sudden health crisis, which reportedly began in 2022. Although Adam did not directly name Onikijipa during the lecture, he promised his audience that he would soon provide a detailed explanation of their long-standing rift.

The accusations also related to past personal grievances between the two clerics, specifically regarding a book published by Sheikh Adam’s late father. In the book, Sheikh Adam’s father listed prominent Islamic scholars, but according to Adam, Onikijipa’s father’s name was not included. Adam expressed his confusion about Onikijipa’s claims of offense, saying, “How can he say my father offended him? The offence is that my father listed all the noble Islamic clerics in one of his books and refused to mention his father.”

Adam also challenged Onikijipa’s legitimacy as the heir to the Onikijipa lineage, saying, “Who’s even his father? His father is not the heir of the Onikijipa lineage. The real heirs reside in the Onikijipa compound.”

The root of the allegations reportedly stemmed from two separate incidents involving Onikijipa in 2022. The first occurred at a wedding in Ilorin, where Adam claimed that one of Onikijipa’s associates rubbed a handkerchief on his neck before passing it to the Mufty. Two months later, Adam said he began experiencing health issues, attributing it to this encounter.

The second incident allegedly took place at another wedding, where Adam lost his ability to speak immediately after greeting the audience. He claimed that Onikijipa had slipped something into his pocket before this happened, which he later identified as two gourds Onikijipa had placed there for spiritual protection.

Adam claimed that Onikijipa later retrieved the gourds from his pocket through Adam’s personal assistant, stating that they were for protection and that he needed to perform an animal sacrifice for them.

The public feud between the two clerics has become widely known, especially after the Emir of Ilorin, HRH Ibrahim Kolapo Sulu-Gambari, named Onikijipa as Mufty of Ilorin, a prestigious Islamic title. Both Onikijipa and Adam hail from Ilorin, Kwara State, but their rivalry appears to have deepened with these latest allegations.

The confrontation has ignited considerable debate within the Islamic community and beyond, with many awaiting the resolution of the matter, as both sides continue to assert their positions.