In an exclusive interview with Religion Journalism Foundation (RJF), Imam Dahiru Abubakar Garba says a dispute over his proposal to rename a Bauchi mosque after President Bola Tinubu led to his removal. The mosque committee says it dismissed him for repeatedly using the place of worship to campaign for the president.
Imam Dahiru Abubakar Garba had come to lead the dawn prayer at his mosque in Madina Quarters, Bauchi State, when members of the mosque committee told him he was no longer the imam.
Days earlier, he had asked the same committee to rename the mosque after the president whose re-election he has been urging worshippers to support. They refused.
“I told them to change the name of the mosque to Imam Bola Ahmed Tinubu Mosque, and they said it is not possible and they will not agree with me,” Garba said in the interview with Religion Journalism Foundation. He says he did not press the point. “After they disagreed, I let them be.”
What followed, by his account, took about four days. “Then two days later, I saw them organizing meetings among themselves, and I didn’t know what they were discussing during those meetings. Two days later, I came out to lead subhi prayer, and they told me that I had been sacked.” “And I asked them why, and they said I cannot continue to campaigning for Bola Ahmed Tinubu in their mosque,” he said.
The committee’s chairman, Imam Abubakar Jibrin, confirmed the removal to Leadership newspaper and described a longer quarrel than Garba’s account suggests. The decision, he said, followed the imam’s repeated attempts to bring partisan politics into the mosque. The committee’s objection went beyond his support for Tinubu. “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,” Jibrin said.
The mosque is called Abdullahi Bin Zubbair Mosque, and the committee wanted it to stay that way. “All the committee members said ‘no’ to his request for changing the name because the mosque belongs to the community,” Jibrin said.
“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 Zubbair.” Jibrin says the imam insisted. Garba says he let it go.
Garba’s own words show that the name was not where the trouble began. “All this while, we’ve not been in good terms because I campaigned for Tinubu in the mosque,” he said. But he is clear about what, in his view, ended his tenure. “But what made the case worse and led to my impeachment all of a sudden was because I decided that we should change the mosque’s name to Imam Bola Ahmed Tinubu Mosque.”
The committee does not make the same claim. Its stated ground is the imam’s political activity, and it presents the renaming request as one more instance of it.
The committee’s case
Jibrin says the imam was warned repeatedly. “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,” he said. “We vehemently rejected the use of the mosque for political meetings. We have warned him not once or twice, but many times, yet he hasn’t heeded our pleas.”
Garba does not deny the campaigning. He describes it as routine. “I usually tell them in the mosque after prayers that they should vote for Tinubu,” he said. “And what I used to tell them is that politics is for religious scholars.” He says scholars should “call on their followers to vote for Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” and he gives a political reason for his own support. “In Nigeria, no one is doing good works for the poor the way Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing it, and that is why I am supporting him.”
A source who has closely monitored the case confirmed to RJF that the campaigning was long-running and took place at prayer times. “He has also been doing this for a very long time, particularly during Maghrib prayers, when many people return from work and attend prayers,” the source said. “He would stand up and begin preaching to people about voting for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, campaigning for his preferred candidate.” The source added that he used Subhi prayers for the same purpose. The mosque, the source said, is not a Juma’at mosque but one “where people observe the five daily prayers”, and it is small.
Jibrin does not dispute that politics has a place in public life. He disputes where it belongs. “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.”
Money forms part of the background. Garba says he paid for much of the building. “At the time of building the mosque, I contributed about half of the money that was used for the construction,” he said. “However, I did not ask for anyone to pay me for it. I did it for the sake of Allah.”
The source who has closely monitored the case, citing conversations with members of the mosque’s council, said Garba believes his contribution, which the source described as the highest, entitles him to act as he likes in the mosque.
After the removal
Garba did not stop campaigning. “Days later after they impeached me, I became angry and I decided to visit the market of our community, the Bauchi Central Market, and I campaigned for Bola Ahmed Tinubu there,” he said.
He says the consequences have followed him. “I have been called and I have been told that there are 13 organizations from Abuja that have already sued me in the court,” he said. That claim is second-hand and RJF has not been able to verify it. He also says residents of Bauchi now turn away from him. “I am walking around streets in Bauchi and people are seeing me and telling me that ba ayi, ba ayi, which means they are not supporting.”
Jibrin says there is no way back. “He should go and build his personal mosque, or politicians should go buy a mosque for him; that is not our business,” he said. He added that the committee takes no side in the contest. “Our prayer is to Allah to choose the best for the country, be it President Tinubu or any candidate among the presidential candidates who would become a blessing to the country.”
Garba expects other imams to meet the same fate. “I know this will happen again, especially now that it started with me, whether in Kano, in Adamawa, or any other state in the country. I’m telling you this and you should watch out ” he said.