NSCIA unveils new resident, visiting imams for Nigeria’s national mosque

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) on Tuesday unveiled five newly appointed imams for the national mosque in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

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The Secretary General of the NSCIA, Is-haq Oloyede, a Professor of Islamic Studies, unveiled the appointees at a press conference held at the NSCIA headquarters in Abuja.

He noted that the national mosque has imams from all five of the six geo-political zones in the country. The south-south is the only region without an Imam who hails from the region.

“You will recall that during a similar press conference held in this room on Thursday 16 November 2017, where the changes in the administration and management of the structure of the Abuja National Mosque were announced, I informed you of the intention of the council to appoint more Imams, particularly from the South-South, South-East geopolitical zone,” Mr Oloyede said.

He added that the council would announce the appointment of more imams for the mosque in the future.

“These are additional to those we have, and we will continue to have more,” he said.

He said while the resident Imams are resident in Abuja, the visiting Imams reside outside the FCT.

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He said the deployment and assignment of duties for the Imams will be done by the management of the national mosque.

Appointed Imams

The appointed imams were screened first by the General Purpose Committee (GPC) of the NCCIA and subsequently recommended for the endorsement of the Expanded General Purpose Committee (EGPC). They endorsed the appointments at its meeting held on 1 December, Mr Oloyede added.

“In taking that decision, the EGPC said the endorsement is subject to the ratification of the National Fatwa Committee. The National Fatwa Committee has considered the five and cleared the five Imams as qualified to be Imams of the National Mosque,” he said.

The newly appointed Imams are; Khalid Abubakar, a professor (Plateau State, North-Central); Muhammad Eze (Enugu, South-East); Ilyas Usman, a professor, (Enugu, South-East); Abdulkadir Salman (Kwara, North-Central); Lukman Zakaria, a professor, (Osun State, South-West).

Appointees’ Profiles

Mr Usman is a professor of Arabic at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi. He hails from Enugu State and speaks Arabic, English, Hausa, and Igbo.

Abdulkadir Salman is from Ilorin, Kwara State. He obtained his first and second degree from Pakistan. He holds a doctorate in Arabic Language from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He is the Ubandoma of Ilorin Emirates.

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Luqman Zakaria is a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Abuja. He obtained a bachelor of law degree (LLB) from Saudi Arabia. He obtained his Master’s Degree at the Lagos State University and his doctorate at the University of Wales in the United Kingdom. He is from Osun State.

Muhammad Eze, a practising lawyer, has been with the NSCIA as a translator for over 20 years. He is a member of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC). He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Abuja in 2007.

Khalid Abubakar, a professor of Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) at the Kaduna State University, hails from Plateau State and has been Secretary General of Jamaat al-Nusra Islam for years.