Abubakar Sarki-Aminu, an Imam at the Sheik Abubakar Mahmood Gumi Juma’at Mosque, Kofar Gayan Low-cost, Zaria, Kaduna State, has been sacked after he complied with the state government’s ban on congregational prayer.
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Sarki-Aminu, according to reports, had been leading prayers at the mosque for 40 years before he was sacked by the Zaria Local Government branch of Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’a Wa’iqamatis Sunnah.
The JIBWIS Chairman, Sani Yakubu, confirmed the development on Friday in Zaria but declined further comment on the issue.
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He, however, directed the mosque’s Committee Chairman, Shehu Dan-Maikuli, to speak on his behalf.
Dan-Maikuli said, prior to the removal of the Imam, there were some issues between the sacked Imam and the mosque committee, which were resolved.
“After the resolution, it was agreed that the Imam should be organising monthly committee meetings to discuss problems and prospects of the Mosque, but after that resolution, we spent over four years without a single meeting.
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“When this issue of coronavirus came, one day the Imam just stand up after leading Zuhur prayer and announced that as from that day he had suspended congregational prayers until the issue (COVID-19) is over.
“When I came for Asr prayer, I was told that the Imam ordered for closure of the Mosque. I called him on phone to enquire and he said yes he had ordered that the Mosque be closed,” he said.
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Dan-Maikuli added that the Imam neither consulted him being the chairman nor other members of the committee before taking the decision.
He said they reported the case to the Chairman, JIBWIS, Zaria Local Government, who came on Wednesday and led Isha (night) prayer and thereafter announced the sack of the Imam and replaced him with Ahmad Tijjani.
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On his part, the sacked Imam said his decision to stop congregational prayers was in deference to government directives and in the interest of public health.
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According to him, two days later, he learnt that some people reported him to the JIBWIS Chairman, who directed that congregational prayers should continue in the same mosque.
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