Sheikh Nurudeen Khalid, the Chief Imam of Apo Legislative Quarters Juma’at Mosque in Abuja, who was suspended for criticising President Muhammadu Buhari over the Kaduna train bombing has broken his silence.
Khalid in a post written in Arabic, said “God is the most powerful. He gives (enthrones) and takes away power (dethrones) from whomever He wishes.”
The Imam said this a few hours after he was suspended as the Chief Imam of the mosque by the committee in charge of the worship centre.
The mosque’s steering committee had suspended Khalid for criticising President Muhammadu Buhari over last Monday night’s attack on an Abuja-Kaduna train.
The Imam, in his Friday sermon, had criticised President Buhari for his failure to visit Kaduna over the terrorist attack, saying mere condemnation wasn’t enough.
He argued that the president was in Kaduna for campaigns but refused to visit the state after the bomb attack on the passenger train.
”Everyone condemned the incident, except the bandits. So condemnation is not enough. The president should visit the state to sympathise with the victims.
”The president has been to Kaduna for campaigns but couldn’t go to the state on a sympathy visit,” the cleric had said.
The chairman of the Mosque Steering Committee, Senator Sai’du Dansadau on Saturday said the Islamic cleric had been suspended for “inciting sermon on Friday, April 1, 2022.”
He explained that the Imam had preached against exercising civic duty by advising voters to give conditions to political leaders before electing them.
Dansadau added that the sermon was against Islamic tenets.
