The Islamic Solidarity Games: Why Nigeria’s Absence?

The Islamic Solidarity Games which held for the first time in Saudi Arabia in 2005 is a sporting event for the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) member states scheduled to hold every four years. Nigeria joined the OIC in 1986 which makes her eligible to take part in the games. However, Nigeria has never participated.

            Why is this? To begin with, how many Nigerians know of this sporting event? Since the Nigerian media is controlled by non-Muslims most of who happen to be Islamophobes, positive news on Islam hardly gets to the notice of the Nigerian Muslim. The immediate answer that will be given to these complaints will be, ‘Nigeria is not an Islamic nation and as such, should not partake in events bearing Islamic colors.’ Nigeria as we know is a country with a Muslim population of 50% minimum, countries with Muslim populations far less than ours proudly and actively participate in the games. Notable mentions are: Uganda (5% Muslim), Guyana (7.2% Muslim), Togo (20% Muslim) and Cameroon (20.9% Muslim) to mention just a few. The sporting event is not known to place any restrictions on the religion of athletes, all athletes whose nations are members of the OIC are automatically qualified to take part in the tourney even though they will have to abide to Islamic rules.

A participating nation has absolutely nothing to lose by participating; it’s just like taking part in the Olympics. I am therefore urging our Islamic leaders, Muslim politicians and rational minds to take this up with the government or any entity that is trying to stop Nigerian Muslims from relating with our brothers and sisters from other climes.

The third edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games (Baku 2017) will be coming up in May (12^th-22^nd) in Azerbaijan; it’s still possible to get athletes from Nigeria to participate in the ‘Olympics of OIC member states’.