Niger speaks on slapped Islamic cleric

Barely a week after a video of Niger state governor, Umaru Bago ordering a security operative to slap a man went viral, the State Government has come out to the cleric was only an impostor who attempted to play the role of an Imam.

Making the clarification in a statement, Special Adviser to the governor on Print Media, Aisha Wakaso stated that the man had since apologised to the governor and forum of Imams for his misconduct, saying that he was neither slapped nor arrested by the security operatives.

It should be recalled that the incident occurred during the Fidua prayer for the late wife of the deputy governor, Zainab Yakubu.

The statement said some media reports did not only misrepresent the incident that took place wherein the Governor ordered security agents to remove an individual who attempted to take over the spiritual duties of the Imams who gathered at the Deputy Governor’s residence.

Accordingly, she state that “while the state government preferred not to engage in the controversy currently celebrated on social media and other platforms, especially when the state was in a mourning period due to the demise of the deputy governor’s wife, it has become necessary to set the record straight and correct the misconceptions about the Governor’s actions.

The governor considers the three days Fidau Prayers as a very sensitive and important event that should be presided over by an Imam or any renowned Islamic Scholar, not by an unqualified individual. The governor’s decision to ask the individual to leave the venue of the prayer is based on maintaining the sanctity and solemnity of the occasion.

He found the act of the person not just as disrespectful to the dead and the reason for the gathering but also as insensitive which led to him requesting that he be taken out by the security agents.”

She disclosed that the alleged cleric had been a fan of the governor whom the governor had tried to empower several times, but merely showed his overzealousness to get noticed.

She said the Governor’s actions were driven by respect for the deceased, the purpose of the gathering, and the need to preserve the sanctity of the Fidua Prayer.