An Islamic cleric, Mallam Ali Temitope Abdussalam has on Sunday declared that owners and operators of some detention homes claiming to be rehabilitation centers but discovered to be torture centers are people of questionable characters and dubious individuals.
It was gathered that the police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), recently discovered some torture centers claiming to be rehabilitation centers where students were treated in an inhuman ways.
But, a former President (Amir), Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), University of Ibadan, Mallam Abdussalam while reacting maintained that the owners of the centers and their operators are people of questionable characters and dubious individuals who lack human feelings.
Abdussalam while speaking with journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital during the maiden graduation ceremony of Ali Institute for Qur’an Memorization (AIQM) added that most of the centers discovered to be treating students in an unfair and inhuman ways, are there to make money and not to promote Islam.
At the event were Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), in charge of Ogun State, Professor AbdulGaniy Raji, Head of Department of Agric Extension and Rural Development University of Ibadan, Professor L.O. Akinbile, Sheikh Dawud Zubayr Abide and Engineer Sikiru Ganiu Olakunle among others.
Abdussalam who is the Director of the institute, maintained that owners of those centers should not be linked to Islam because they do not have good motive before they were set up.
“That is why I said that we have a motive, the motive is to breed youths that will change the society for positive. If you observe those places that you just mentioned, you will ask yourself what is the kind of people that established those places? They are people of questionable characters.
“And there is no way that you will be a teacher, when you have a wrong education, the students that you will teach will take after that your wrong education. That is what caused Boko Haram. You will see that they are giving a wrong education. This affected them.
“So, if you look at the kind of people that set up those places, they are people of questionable characters, they are actually dubious, they don’t have Islam in mind, they don’t love Islam. They are not there to assist Islam and Muslims, they are just there to make money for their own personal gains and their own personal pleasures. So obviously their actions are very far away from what Islam says.
“The mission I have is to assist the youths of today especially the Muslims to understand the basic tenets of Islam which will not affect their Western education pursuit. They can even come after primary school, secondary or after JSS 3.
“When these students who have memorized Qur’an go out, they will come out and propagate Islam in a better way through their attitude and behaviours. This will affect their attitude positively.”
The guest lecturer, Ustaz Rashid Adekunle Hazim while speaking cautioned the graduands against engaging in anti social behaviours.
“The summary of what I have presented today is that, for the graduands, they need to take Al-Qur’an very serious. It is a book of guidance that they should not play with. The graduands should make sure that they implement the teachings of Al-Qur’an. They should move away from the prohibition of Al-Qur’an.
“The government should treat Al-Qur’an memorizers as graduates. The government should employ them. They should allow teaching of Al-Qur’an in public schools so that Muslim students should understated their religion.”
