Prof. Ilyas Usman has been appointed as an Imam at the National Mosque in Abuja.
Usman, the first Professor of Arabic from Igboland, joins the existing team of three Imams at the mosque.
As reported by Daily Trust, he will work alongside the two active Imams, Prof. Ibrahim Makari and Prof. Muhammad Kabir, to lead Juma’ah and daily congregational prayers on a rotating basis. The fourth Imam, Sheikh Ahmad Onilewura from Southwest Nigeria, has been unable to lead prayers recently due to health issues.
With Usman’s appointment from the Southeast, the National Mosque of Nigeria, which can hold 25,000 people and was built in 1984, now has three active Imams, along with the Murshid, Prof. Shehu Ahmad Sai’d Galadanci, who serves as the chief spiritual guide and overall administrator.