Mosque Saga: ‘There Was No Physical Structure On Disputed Land’

Rivers State Islamic Leader and Vice President General, Rivers State Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Nasir Uhor has confirmed that there was no physical structure of a mosque at the disputed land at Rainbow Town in Port Harcourt.
“The insinuation that there is a 10-storey building is not true”, Uhor said.
Appearing on a live radio programme, monitored by The Tide in Port Harcourt, last Saturday, Uhor said that in Islam, the whole world constitutes mosque, adding that even the nest of the bird represents a mosque.
He said that from that definition, whether or not there is a building, the location is a mosque.
The Islamic leader said that under the administration of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the Rivers State Government stopped work at the location on two occasions, and clarified that the leadership of the Muslim community in Rivers State was not responsible for the falsehood circulating about the disputed land at Rainbow Town.
He admitted that a Rivers State High Court had ruled that the disputed land belongs to the state government.
Uhor explained that the Muslim community was not disputing the ownership of the land with the Rivers State Government, but noted that the late Chief Amadi who sold the land to the Islamic community claimed that he inherited it.
The leader of Rivers Muslim community said that the correct position of things is that Rivers State is a Christian-dominated state, pointing out that this should not be an excuse for anyone to promote hatred.
He appealed to the Rivers State Government for dialogue on the disputed land.
Contributing to the phone-in programme, a prominent Muslim and former special adviser to the Rivers State Governor on NDDC, Alhaji Mohammed Okiri stressed that by the judgment of November, 2018, the position of the law is that the land belongs to the Rivers State Government.
“If that is the case, does the Muslim community there have a better title? If you don’t have, all these receipts, payments are all extraneous. The court has seen them and has come to a conclusion. The court resolved that the land belongs to the Rivers State Government.
“Since they have lost the case, the best the Muslim community would have done is to humble ourselves”, he said.