At the burial of murdered schoolboy Toyosi Shitta-bey at Newcastle Cemetery, Co Dublin on 8 April, controversial cleric Imam Shehu Adeniji persuaded mourners not to support or attend a peaceful public rally organised that weekend for his remembrance and to highlight the need for integration.
“No amount of protest, no demonstration will bring back this boy’s soul,” he said. “Your good mind is what he needs – not fighting, not crying… Demonstration is uncalled for. We do not approve of it. It is creating social unrest... It can instigate problems with teenagers and we are worried about where it might lead.”
His graveside statement caused a lot of confusion, and only served to heighten the tensions that have followed the brutal killing of the Nigerian teenager – which is believed to have been racially motivated.
Within the Nigerian community, some people who believe that Imam Adeniji was misquoted by the media urged him to publicly clarify his comments. An invitation to the imam by the Toyosi Memorial Committee to give the opening prayer at the event was declined.
Meanwhile, the rally went ahead as scheduled on 10 April and was very successful, with up to 5,000 participants attending at various stages from Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance to the Dáil. It was also peaceful, which prompted more people to question the rationale behind the imam’s comments.
Metro Éireann contacted the controversial cleric after the rally, and again on Friday 16 April, but both times he declined to comment. He was informed it is extremely important that he makes a statement on the issue. In addition, we informed him that many of our readers, including Irish people, were wondering if he was a ‘prophet of doom’, considering the fact that the rally went off peacefully without any single incident, contrary to his predictions.
However, Imam Adeniji refused to substantiate his comments. “Thank you very much for your concern, I don’t need to make any comment for now. Progress and lightness are watchwords that I stand for,” he told Metro Éireann, adding: “Let us leave judgement for God and stop negative instigations regarding this event.”
Imam Adeniji would certainly need more than his faith to stop the strong criticism which continues to follow his comments.
“It shows he doesn’t know what he is talking about. It’s either he is ignorant or mischievous. The rally was very significant and it made a statement on diversity in Ireland,” Yinka Odeajo, Nigerian publisher of Bold and Beautiful magazine told Metro Éireann.
Odeajo urged people to “to ignore the imam because his comments show that he lacks the temperament to make a comment on matters like this”.
For youth worker John-Kingsley Onwumere, the issue is beyond race. “If a civil protest is not necessary then the legal process is equally not necessary, because both are legitimate expressions of public opinion and the law,” he said.
Ahead of the rally, Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins condemned Imam Adniji’s comments. “It is a peaceful rally. I am unhappy some fears are being created. I think [the] comments were disgraceful. That’s outrageous,” Higgins was quoted as saying in the Sunday Tribune. “It shows that some people are out of touch with the community.”
Zimbabwean Tendai Mad-ondo, a Green Party candidate in last year’s local elections, said: “What happened to Toyosi is atrocious by any standards. We surely could not have stood on the sidelines folding our arms and shaking heads helplessly.
“This was a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with Toyosi’s family and friends and to raise awareness of the need for justice on this and other similar cases, hence the ‘enough is enough’ slogan.”
She added: “There is no room for violence or social unrest, as leaders of the African community and Toyosi’s family spoke of the importance of working together to achieve lasting solutions to this challenge.
“Peaceful demonstrations do not and should not cause social unrest, unless if you are in intensely undemocratic jurisdictions. It is inaction in the face of a crisis such as this that causes it.”
