●He was turning mosque into campaign ground – Committee Chairman
●I was telling them not to blame Tinubu for insecurity – Ousted Imam
The Mosque Committee of Madina Quarters in Bauchi metropolis has removed Imam Dahiru Abubakar as the spiritual leader of the mosque for allegedly turning it into a political platform to campaign for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election.
The committee reportedly moved against him for using every obligatory prayer period to campaign, Daily Trust reports.
“He would tell the congregation after prayers that Tinubu did not cause insecurity and that he deserved to be re-elected.
“A committee was set up after he did the same thing last weekend and he was subsequently removed,” a source said.
However, the suspended Imam told Daily Trust:
“I have been preaching to the people to stop castigating President Tinubu for the insecurity and economic challenges. They voted for him and should give him another mandate in 2027 to continue.
“My preaching centred on telling people to embrace the fear of God and stop blaming leaders for insecurity, particularly President Tinubu, because only God’s intervention can stop the challenges through the power of prayers, and that didn’t go down well with the committee.
“My preaching priorities are fear of God and our day-to-day activities. I cited examples of what is happening, especially insecurity in African countries like Sudan, Chad, Mali and others facing crises. I asked whether President Tinubu was responsible for their insecurity.”
Contacted over the development, the chairman of the mosque committee, Imam Abubakar Jibrin, said: “Our major challenge with him was not only his campaign for Tinubu but the way and manner he gathered many people in front of the mosque and sometimes entered the mosque purposely to discuss politics.”
“The mosque committee sat down with him and cautioned him against turning the mosque into a political platform because of the Quranic verse which says the mosque is solely for the worship of Allah alone. We vehemently reject the use of the mosque for political meetings. We have warned him not once or twice but many times, but he didn’t heed our pleas.
“Even though we believe that politics is the process of producing leaders in the country, there are laid down procedures, which are political parties, and the activities should take place in their political party offices and not in the mosque.”
Jibrin added that apart from campaigning for the President, the Imam was also insisting on changing the name of the mosque from Abdullahi Bin Zubair Mosque to Masjid Imam Bola Ahmed Tinubu Mosque.
“All the committee members said ‘no’ because the mosque belongs to the community. This mosque has a committee of which I am one of the members, and when he insisted, we rejected the idea and resolved that the mosque name would remain Masjid Abdullahi Bin Zubair,” Jibrin said, asserting that his removal was final and irreversible.
“He should go and build his personal mosque, or politicians should go and buy a mosque for him; that is not our business. Let me clarify that we, members of the committee of the mosque, are not against the candidate of any political party. Our prayer is to Allah to choose the best for the country, be it President Tinubu or any candidate among the presidential candidates that would become a blessing to the country,” he added.