Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, Chief Imam
Some Muslim youth attacked a mosque at Darkuman in Accra last Friday evening in what appeared to be the fallout from the raging and long-standing intra-Tijanniya row.
One of the victims of the attack, Abubakar Saddik aka Baba Commander, who is also the Communications Head of the Tijanniya Muslim Council, told DAILY GUIDE that “at about 5pm on Friday, we were engaged in a spiritual exercise performed by Tijanniyas (Wurdi) before Magrib (the third prayer) when we heard some noise. We did not think that those we saw, the source of the noise, were Muslims because they had tied red pieces of red fabrics around their heads. We thought they were engaged in a funeral procession.”
He continued: “They came in two groups from different directions. We noticed stones being hurled at us by them; some of them clutching cutlasses and other dangerous objects. There were kids around and I managed to push them away from harm but I sustained a minor injury; one of my colleagues a former staff of TV Africa, Mutari, sustained serious injuries on his shoulder and other parts of his body. One of the stones landed on the white fabric at the centre of the circle we formed as we engaged in the religious drill. When we tried to tell our attackers that we were engaged in a religious exercise they challenged us to come forward”.
He said the case had been reported to the Darkuman Police Station whose commander he added had come to look at the scene of the attack.
He said the fans and other items in the mosque had been destroyed by the attackers adding “we leave everything in the hands of God”.
According to him, Sheikh Abu Fail and others had been invited earlier for the brokerage of peace but it does not suggest the objective of that engagement has been achieved.
A video recording in which Abu Fail challenged the authority of the National Chief Imam during the former’s recent visit to Accra had gone virile within the country incurring the wrath of the supporters of Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu.
The Vice-President hosted a meeting with the National Council of Zongo Chiefs with a view to seeking an amicable resolution of the impasse.
A social media war of words has provided a dangerous fuel for the row which for now is taking the feature of an impasse.
The spokesperson of the National Chief Imam Sheikh Shuaib Armeyaw told DAILY GUIDE Saturday that “Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu does not want to be at the centre of a row. The cleric has been successful in bringing together the various sects in Islam an unrivalled feat.”
Continuing, he said “it behoves the law enforcement agencies to investigate the source of the row. This is a warning signal and it would be in the interest of public peace that those behind it are fished out”.
A few months ago, Nima witnessed a clash between youth supporters of two important Islamic clerics in the country- the National Chief Imam and the son and successor of the late Malam Abdullahi Maikano Jallo, Sheikh Khalifa Abu Fail Jallo – which resulted in two young men sustaining injuries from sharp objects they used on each other.
While the National Chief Imam is resident in Accra where he was born, the successor of Malam Maikano, Sheikh Khalifa Abu Fail Jallo lives in Prang in the Brong Ahafo Region. The followers of both clerics are strewn across the country but the hotbeds live in Accra and Kumasi. These are places where intelligence operatives must engage with the locals to gather important security details about developments so they can forestall imminent eventualities.
The Jallo youth and their Sharubutu counterparts have been slugging it out on social media in a manner which is worrying.
There is no option to an immediate intervention because when it starts in Accra it would easily spread to Kumasi with dire consequences.
By A.R. Gomda