By Kazeem Akintunde
Kazeem Akintunde
Sheikh Nuru Khalid, the former Chief Imam of Apo Legislative Quarters’ Mosque committed a great ‘sin’ recently when he took the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to the cleaners over insecurity that has pervaded the length and breadth of Nigeria. He dared to talk while eating. And for that alone, he kissed his job goodbye. In Nigeria, it is a grave sin for you to be invited to eat and while at the table, complain that your host does not know how to cook.
Imam Khalid became the Chief Imam of Apo Legislative Quarters Mosque in 2007, and by the set-up of the Mosque, he was more or less an employee of the government as his salary was paid by the government. But on Friday, April 1, he was bold enough to criticize the same government. The Mosque committee did not waste time suspending him before he was eventually sacked two days later.
The Digital Imam as Khalid is known and addressed by many of his admirers, perhaps, knew that his sack was imminent, as he, alongside others, worked assiduously towards the construction of another Mosque in Abuja, built behind the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Quarters and where he was named the new Chief Imam following the incident of his sack.
Now let us examine what Imam Klalid said while delivering his Friday sermon that got his employers reeling. Khalid, in his sermon, specifically asked Nigerian voters not to vote for any politician who cannot guarantee them the safety of lives and properties in Nigeria come 2023. Hear him: “We need prayers. We need supplication. This is very important at a time when Nigeria is facing a very serious challenge. Everything is not working well. People are dying. Our roads are not secured. Most part of the country is not secured. The government is always telling us that they are doing their best. But we deserve more than that best as citizens because we want a secured Nigeria.
“What you are telling us is that your concern is about the 2023 elections. And what I am telling the citizens is to send a message that we are going to vote under one condition. Nigerian masses should resort to only one demand which is – protect our lives or we won’t come out to vote; let us be killed, we will not come out to vote, since it’s the only language you understand, we are going to speak it.
“Our lives are important to us. We want to live. Our wealth and dignity are important as well. You must do something to secure our lives and make our security workable. We cannot afford to be moving like this. People (are) attacking our trains, killing our people as if there is no government in this country. They (bandits) can gather and disseminate intelligence information as if they are a government of their own while our government cannot share information and stop the rubbish on our ways.”
The very next day, Imam Kahlid got suspended by the mosque’s management. The suspension order was signed by the administrative head of the mosque, Senator Saidu Dansadau. The irrepressible Imam was
