Following the intervention of the Kaduna State government in the leadership tussle at the Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna, normalcy has returned to the mosque as the Juma’at prayer was held peacefully at the mosque yesterday.
Prayers at the mosque were disrupted last week as a result of a disagreement over the leadership of the mosque. But thousands of Muslim faithful turned out yesterday to pray at the mosque after the an intervention by Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
El-rufai, who was also at the mosque, appealed for calm, saying the state could not afford another religious crisis as it had lost about 20,000 people to such crises in the past.
He said the state had witnessed no less than 16 religious and ethnic crises, adding that his administration decided to intervene in the crisis to avoid another bloodshed.
“This Mosque was built by the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Premier of Northern Nigeria many years back and Sheikh Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi assisted in laying it’s foundation. I remember that years back, late Gumi used to encourage people to join the civil service and the military at a time when some scholars were against that. This is why we are praying for peace in the mosque and for people to live in peace with one another,” he said.
The governor said a 15-man committee had been set up to appoint the substantive imam for the mosque while the deputy imam of the mosque, Alaramma Ibrahim Isa would continue to lead prayers pending the outcome of the committee’s work.
El-Rufai named his Adviser on Religious Affairs , Engr. Namadi Musa as the committee secretary.
