The Chief Imam of the Apo legislative quarters Mosque, Abuja, Sheikh Nuru Khalid, has been suspended for allegedly delivering an inciting sermon.
The decision was announced by the Mosque Committee who deemed the sermon by Sheikh Khalid as ‘inciting public outrage,’ Daily Trust reported.
The Imam in his Friday sermon on April 1, 2022, condemned the Federal Government over its inability to curtail the escalating insecurity and killings across the country.
Khalid went ahead to advise the electorates on measures to take if the current spate of killings is not checked by the government.
The Imam said, “Nigerian masses should resort to only one term which is – protect our lives, we will come out to vote; let us be killed, we will not come out to vote, since it’s only elections that you people know,”
In a statement sent to BBC Hausa Service by the chairman of the mosque committee, Senator Saidu Muhammed Dansadau, the committee said the Imam has been suspended for discouraging the people not to come out to vote.
The committee argued that what was expected of the Imam is to advise the people to vote out politicians who have reneged on their social contract with the people.
The statement read, “I am informing you that you have been suspended from leading prayers in the Apo Legislative Quarters Mosque from today being April 2nd, 2022 until further notice.
“The decision was taken out of the inciting Friday sermon you delivered on April 1st, 2022; where you advised people not to vote come 2023 general elections unless politicians respond to some critical questions.
“You should have advised them to vote out those that transgress the Almighty and breach people’s social contract as well as the state.”
The committee reiterated that Sheikh Khalid’s sermon was a total negation from the tenets of Islam.
The committee also announced the immediate appointment of Malam Mohammad who will deliver Ramadan Tafsir while Malam Abdullahi will be leading Friday prayers.
However, there has been no reaction from the embattled Imam as of the time of filing this report.
