An Islamic group under the aegis of the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria, the Oyo State chapter has indefinitely postponed the inauguration of the Sharia court earlier scheduled to be held on January 11, 2025.

The group made this disclosure in a statement signed by the Khadimul Muslimeen of Oyo Kingdom, Imam Daud Igi Ogun, on Tuesday.

The statement read, “On behalf of the Oyo Muslim indigenes, this is to inform the general public that the inauguration ceremony of the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (Oyo branch) previously scheduled for January 11th, 2025, at the Muslim Community Islamic Center, Oba Adeyemi High School Road, Mobolaje Area, Agbongangan, Oyo, has been suspended until further notice. Islam portrays peace!”

Netizens across social media platforms have begun to condemn a banner about Jesus Christ displayed at the gate of the Lekki Central Mosque in Lagos State.

The inscription on the banner which went viral on Wednesday read, “Jesus Christ is not God. He is a Prophet and Messenger of God!”

However, reactions have trailed the message, with some arguing that the motive behind it was blasphemy.

Some others, however, maintained that the message has been affirmed by pastors many times.

A Nigerian actress, Wumi Tuase, took to her X and expressed displeasure saying, “I don’t like to get into religious conversations but I found it very weird that Lekki Central Mosque has this in front of their gate.”

A user who tweeted with the handle #Fisayo Ojabodu wrote, “You don’t see the banner is disrespectful to other people’s religion. And is propagating foolish agenda.”

One user who identified with the handle #Adesuwa noted that this action is nothing but blasphemy.

Another user who identified as #FS Yusuf tweeted, “Christianity is actually a religion of peace.

“In the last two decades, my family church has been set on fire by Muslim extremists for ridiculous reasons such as religious extremism and Buhari losing his 2011 election.

“This is the reality for hundreds of churches and also innocent individuals accused of blasphemy. If this write-up was done by a Christian organisation, we won’t be here typing. Until we learn to uphold tolerance, we can’t make progress as a pluralistic society.”

One Silva Bella on X said, “It’s not about Christianity is a religion of peace or not … Jesus is not God. I have read the Bible a lot of time and it obvious but I can’t still get why people call Jesus God. He’s the son which means God is the father.”

“Jesus is God, Jesus is your King and Jesus will pass judgment on all. For judgment will only be fair through him that has walked in your flesh and felt your pain,” GeradTheGreat opined.

“We are so peaceful, and we will remain peaceful, we don’t fight for our God, He fights for himself,” Joycccc wrote on Meta.

Another user on X, Expope said, “The late Deborah they set on fire has not done up to this before they all joined hands to terminate her life.”

On X, another user identified as #ChristTheLighhouse opined, “We as Christians accept criticism, backlash, rejection, and even insults. Our Lord and saviour whom we believe and serve received more up to the point of death! He prayed for unbelievers and his persecutors and killers.

“The gospel of repentance and conversation into Christianity and acceptance of Jesus as ones personal Lord and Saviour is never by force, war, coercion or propaganda…it’s by the gentle acts of the Holy Spirit of God.That is the game changer. It’s a personal experience. Ask Saul (later Paul) of Tarsus!”

On the contrary, one Muhammad Shaikhan said, “The beauty of this drama between Christians and Muslims is that everyone of us knows that God is one. God is always a God. We can’t substitute God with anybody. The argument is all about the teaching of Jesus and that of Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon them. So I don’t vex.”

Abdul’fattah Muhdl’awwal said, “Jesus himself never said he is God.

“You and the likes are the ones calling him God. Hence the quote in that banner is the fact and not blasphemous.”

One Olawale on Meta said, “The message on the banner is true.”

Tobi Adegboyega, the founder of the SPAC Nation church in the United Kingdom (UK), says his current travails are politically motivated.

The Nigerian pastor, who is at the centre of a UK deportation saga, said the persecution started after a member of parliament (MP) from his district alleged that he was advocating against the gay community.

In an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Adegboyega said the MP reported the church’s activities to the police.

He said the police could not investigate the allegations against him and the church because they were “all nonsensical”.

“You can’t claim that our proof is inflated without telling us why. The UK Metropolitan Police gathered charities in the UK and asked them to go to SPAC Nation. I wrote solutions for the home office,” he said.

“Truths must be backed with facts. For 10 years, we have been persecuted without one single move.

“Allegations without indictment, so why shouldn’t we suspect biases?

“We have a situation where people believed I was supporting certain political parties because one person believed that my agenda was to go against the gay community, and from that day, we have been to reconciliation meetings.

“The person wrote that my evangelical zeal was to make sure that the gay community in that area does not survive.

“He took dossiers of evidence against the church to the sacred ground of the parliament and submitted it to the internal affairs minister, who submitted it to the police, and the police came back to say that they couldn’t even investigate one thing because it was all nonsensical.

“The person is an MP, and the same person is sitting behind these things, making sure that he is not defeated.

“If there is any honour left in his system, what such men should do is apologise unless you’re saying the police authority of Great Britain is inept, which would be quite unfortunate.”

Adegboyega dismissed the deportation case against him, stressing that the focus should be on the contribution of his church to the safety and businesses of people in the UK.

“The country cannot deny it. There is no prime minister who can deny the result of the work we have done. When the metropolitan police came to the church, that was about three years ago; they sat down, and they came to learn,” he said.

“It is our result of how many lives have been saved, how many knives we have taken off the street, and how many businesses we created for this economy.

“We had a few hours of the tribunal, and in the tribunal, I was given a few hours to talk about the SPAC Nation, and we defended the honour of the SPAC Nation.”