ICYMI: IGBO MUSLIM ORPHANAGE AND DA’WAH FOUNDATION TARGETED IN RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION, LEFT IN RUINS

Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria – October 14, 2024

Aishat Obi Da’awah/Orphanage Foundation, a non-profit organization providing shelter and care to vulnerable orphans and widows, has been subjected to relentless persecution and violence by non-Muslim fanatics.

Trail of Terror

After receiving threats in our initial community, the foundation’s heads—Hajia Aishat Obi, her husband, and the orphans of her foundation—relocated multiple times, only to face repeated attacks:

i) Abumu Lọlọ: The foundation fled due to clashes between security agencies and unknown gunmen.It is also important to note that Hajia Aishat Obi was once abducted (kidnapped) and forced to sign a document stating that she and her husband would never practice Islam again in one of the communities.

ii) Garki, Okigwe: The foundation was attacked, forcing another relocation.This was intended to be a branch of the Hajia Aishat Obi Foundation. However, persecution and an attempted assassination forced relocation.

iii) Third location: Targeted for assassination.On Thursday, September 12, 2024, the foundation’s premises at Ama Madubuike, opposite Zubic Hotel, Okigwe, were brutally attacked and burnt down. The destruction included:

i) Orphanage facilities

ii) The foundation’s shop

iii) Stored items for resale, including gallons of oiliv) Personal propertiesHajia Aishat Obi was specifically accused of bringing Hausa people to these locations, where she was either trailed for assassination or where her foundation’s properties were attacked by arson.

Clarification

We want to make it abundantly clear:

The fact that we are Muslims does not make us Hausa.

Hajia Aishat Obi is a Nigerian Igbo Muslim woman who operates a foundation whose board members are Muslims of the following origins: Igbo, Yoruba, Edo, Hausa, etc.Many of these people, just like the average Igbo person, are bilinguals or polyglots.

The fact that we switch to Hausa while discussing does not make us Hausa.

The fact that we speak Igbo does not make us all Igbo.

Our Islamic symbols include long flowing clothes and hijab for females, and caps for males.

We are in the 21st century, where you can find British Muslim scholars among British people who brought Christianity to Igbo land.The same applies to Israel and France. These places not only have large Muslim populations, but also Islamic scholars.

Acts of Peace and Continued Persecution

Hajia Aishat Obi, through her foundation, has tried all she could to spread love and peace. When she returned from Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina), she embarked on a gift-sharing tour in Imo State. Videos of these activities are available on our Facebook page. Gifts were given to both Muslims and Christians. Still, we are persecuted.

“Just imagine being persecuted for sharing gifts—food, clothes, gadgets, etc.—with the less privileged and needy, only to be attacked for that, with the ridiculous claim that the people with me during this sharing tour are Hausa, even when one of our camera handlers is a Christian. O Allah Almighty!”

In these times when Ndị Igbo are being called to return to Igbo land, unknown faces are killing the remaining lives they are not comfortable with. We have been contacted several times and asked to move our foundation out of Imo State, and sometimes out of the South East entirely.