Imam Abdullahi Abubakar (MON), an 86-year-old Muslim cleric in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, will receive a National Honour this week for risking his life to shelter 262 Christians in a mosque during a clash in Yelwa Gindi Village. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will present the award, Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) to him on October 11, 2022 at the State House in Abuja.

When suspected bandits attacked settlements in his community, Imam Abdullahi Abubakar, a Hausa and the Chief Imam of a mosque in Yelwan Gindi Akwati village in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, along with his aide Umar Abdullahi, a Fulani, rescued the lives of nearly 200 people.

His Action

Imam Abdullahi Abubakar is a community and religious leader. The lives of close to 300 Christian neighbours are in danger. And in spite of them not been of the same faith with him, Imam Abubakar risked his life, that of his family and his mosque from been burnt down to save his Christian neighbours.

However, reports gathered in 2016, suggested that Nigeria’s pastoral conflict was the cause of more deaths that year than Boko Haram. Violence between the nomadic herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria’s middle belt dates back to 2013. Hundreds of people have been killed in 2018, and the tit-for-tat violence has been ongoing for several years. Had the Imam not intervened, the death toll may have been much higher, as the armed men stormed into the mainly Muslim village in pursuit of those who had fled the mainly Christian village nearby.

On Wednesday July 17, 2019, Imam Abdullahi Abubakar was honoured by the United States with Religious Freedom Award for saving the lives of close to 300 Christians in his mosque in Plateau state!

The National Awards Nomination

The 437 individuals nominated by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for the 2022 national honours award include Imam Abubakar.

This year’s list includes five honorees for the awards of GCON, 54 for CFR, CON 67, OFR 64, OON 101, MFR 75, MON 56, and FRM 8, according to information acquired by The Muslim Voice.

A few of the recipients are:

President of the Senate, Sen. Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan (GCON);
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (CFR);
Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum (CON);
Vice Chancellor, Gombe State University, Prof. Aliyu Usman El-Nafaty (OFR );
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Dr. Muiz Banire, (OON) and Prof Is-haq Oloyede (CON), and others.

Baba Awe: A wizard who becomes a Muslim in Ibadan

Editors’ Picks

JUST IN: Shaykh Abdulganiyy Aboto is dead

Building Mosques On Free Land; An Accident Waiting To Happen

Gov. AbdulRazaq Hail Emir of Ilorin on 26th Coronation Anniversary