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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Sheikh Muhammed Nuru Khalid, popularly known as Digital Imam, was the vocal Imam of a Mosque in Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja.
The Steering Committee of the Mosque sacked the Imam for what they described as inciting sermon.
In this interview, the cleric spoke on his concern on the deteriorating state of affairs in the country and what led to Muhammadu Buhari’s failure as president. Excerpts:
You used to be a vocal Islamic cleric, but you have been quiet lately. What happened?
I have not been quiet actually. I have been vocal and speaking to the authorities as usual, but it may not be as loud as you and other Nigerians had expected. And the reason is because of the fragile situation we have found ourselves. However, I have been using the various social media platforms to reach out to my large audience and followers. I have asked my followers to also understand the situation we are in this country so they can limit their expectations from me.
Did your disengagement by the management of Apo Legislative Quarters Mosque affect your being vocal?
No at all, but I will look at this situation from several dimensions. My disengagement was for me, a relief of some burdens. It was also a challenge to the nation because what I have consistently done to put the government on their toes, charging them to sit-up to their responsibilities and do the right things for the people. Also, my followers at the Mosque and by extension, Nigerians, who were benefitting from the deep knowledge I share have lost that opportunity.
What was the reactions of your followers at the Apo Legislative Quarters’ Mosque when you were disengaged?
Expectedly, their reactions were that of unhappy people and evidences could be seen. I have not been following up on what is happening there since my departure, but the little information I have indicated that the Mosque is not as it used to be when I was there in terms of daily teachings and other activities. The morale of the people are not encouraging at all. It’s a bad situation there.
The 2023 general elections are fast-approaching. Are you impressed with the preparations so far?
Based on my personal assessment, we are not where we ought to be regarding the preparation for the elections. There’s increasing calls for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ‘up its game’ regarding the preparation so they can deliver free, fair and credible elections. Security agencies must also sit-up to their responsibilities to provide the needed security for the civic exercise. Statistics of events during the campaigns so far are not encouraging. Attacks have been recorded so far on political campaign grounds. INEC offices are being attacked and in some cases burnt down. It’s a bad situation that we must condemn. We must intensify campaign against election violence, vote-buying and financially-induced activities.
What roles do you think religious leaders should play in the coming general elections?
It’s the role of leadership. Unarguably, some of us the religious leaders in Nigeria command massive loyalty, respect and followership. And because of that, we must commit ourselves to issues that would promote the welfare and wellbeing of Nigerians. We must promote campaigns that would ensure violence free polls. And we must encourage our people to abide by the laws and ensure there’s no pre- or post-election violence.
Rising criminal activities is threatening to consume Nigeria. What is government not doing right?
A lot. However, it’s not late to make amends. They must wake up and start doing the right thing to get the right result. President Muhammadu Buhari should thoroughly assess the heads of security agencies and relief those not performing as expected. That way, others would sit-up, do the needful and be serious with their jobs.
The recent decision of the CBN in redesigning the currency has generated reactions. Are you in support of the naira redesign, cash withdrawal limit and other decisions?
No! The decision of the CBN to redesign the currency is obviously not right at this time. It was ill-advised and should be discontinued with immediate effect. That decision, obviously, has given room for the circulation of fake naira notes. People are concerned with the fact that there’s fake currency (new naira notes) circulating. This was even worsened by the scarcity of the new naira notes. Banks and corporate businesses are running short of the new naira notes.
The president is winding down his administration. What’s your assessment of the administration vis-a-vis the promises he made and results achieved?
My assessment is obviously not far away from the outcome of the assessment of other majority of Nigerians who have scored him very poor (failure) in virtually every area. People have realized that the president made empty promises to Nigerians in 2015 when he was looking for votes. He did not achieve average mark at all in what he promised Nigerians during the 2015 elections.
Can you compare where Nigeria was in 2015 and now?
If you compare Nigeria of 2015 and now, you will realize that we were far better in all indices than where we are now. Take a look at the economy, inflation, security, education and several others. Things got worse under this government of President Muhammadu Buhari. That’s the fact!
What should Nigerians watch out for in the coming elections to avoid the repeat of 2015 mistake?
First, I will suggest that politicians should avoid making lots of promises some of which they know are unrealistic. This time, they shouldn’t be lots of promises without commitment to delivering. Secondly, the citizens must be more careful now and ask the right questions. Nigerians must look at mistakes they made in the past by putting religion, ethnicity and geographical location into consideration during the elections. Now, we have to look out for credible candidate who can offer and deliver services to the people. We shouldn’t champion religion, ethnicity and other unnecessary factors as was the case in 2015 that brought us to the bad situation we are now.
We seem to have four frontrunners in this coming presidential election, APC, LP, PDP and NNPP. Can you give Nigerians a guide on which to follow?
I don’t want to sound like a partisan politician. But I have four recommendations that if Nigerians follow them, we would succeed. First, Nigerians should study the presidential candidates and know who can tackle the issue of insecurity. Secondly, we must look out for who is concerned about the unity of Nigeria. Thirdly, we must consider the candidate that will fix Nigeria’s ailing economy and the last is the issue of education. We must look out for someone who has plans for our education system which is in comatose. Those are my recommendations which I urge all Nigerians to consider before voting.
You said Buhari government was a failure. What do you think he didn’t do well that led to his failure?
Buhari failed in three areas. First was his style of appointment. He saturated his government with incompetent people whom he could not relief of their duties having, evidently, failed woefully. The second one was accountability. Buhari was unable to hold people he appointed to offices accountable for their failure. Then, the third one was his inability to run an inclusive government. He, obviously, lacked the ability to manage the diversity of Nigeria, hence the agitations by ethnic nationalities. I, hereby, advise the incoming government to avoid these pitfalls and steps taken by Buhari government so it can succeed in delivering dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
Do you think we have a foundational problem?
Yes, we have. However, we Nigerians are majorly our problems. We need to increase our patriotism. Unfortunately, everybody is after what he or she will get into his or her pockets instead of working for the interest of Nigeria. We need to revisit our minds. We have to be ashamed of doing the wrong things. We must think of what good to offer Nigeria and not selfish attempts. If we do that, the country will be better for it.
