Ceremony in southwest Nigeria will also mark start of academic activities and investiture of pioneer vice-chancellor

By Abdullahi Yusuf

Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, the Sultan of Sokoto and President of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Saad Abubakar, and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, are scheduled to inaugurate Minaret University in Ikirun, southwest Nigeria, on Feb. 5.

The ceremony will formally mark the commencement of academic activities at the newly licensed private university and the investiture of its pioneer vice-chancellor, Professor Abdul Rahman Abdullah. The event will be held at the institution’s temporary campus along the Ikirun–Offa Expressway.

Minaret University Ikirun is owned by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and was among the private universities approved by the Nigerian government last year, adding to the growing number of privately owned higher institutions in Osun State and across the country.

The Amir of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat of Nigeria, Barrister Alatoye Azeez Folorunso, is expected to formally present the vice-chancellor to the academic community and host town during the inauguration.

Organisers said the university will also unveil its first publication, a book focused on global peace and international relations, as part of activities marking the launch. The book, The Super Powers: Geopolitics of World War and the Pathway to Peace, was written by Hafiz Yunus Omotayo, a missionary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat of Nigeria and a journalist.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is globally known for its advocacy for peace, dialogue and interfaith harmony.

The inauguration ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., according to a statement signed by Qasim Akinreti, media lead of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat of Nigeria.