Some Nigerians and a Non-Governmental Organization have thrown their weight behind the disposed Chief Imam of Apo Legislative Quarters Mosque, Abuja, Sheikh Nuru Khalid

Khalid had been critical of the president of the country and in many of his sermon which had gone viral described the president as a failure.

In his latest message that landed him in trouble waters, the cleric had said, “Is there nobody to take responsibility? I want to believe that we have all failed. I failed as an Imam to teach you that life is sacred. You all failed as parents to teach your children that killing is bad. Our Community leaders failed. Our politicians failed. Governors failed, especially his Excellency the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. You have failed us.

“Let me tell Mr President, under your watch bandits are demanding, are taxing Nigerians. Is that the provision of the constitution of Nigeria?

“Under the constitution, no one has a right to tax Nigerians except authorised by the Federal Government.”

Subsequently, the chairman of the mosque committee, Senator Saidu Muhammed Dansadau, accused him of “inciting public outrage’.

The Convener of Open Nigeria, Smart Madu Ajaja, has commended the cleric for standing for the truth even when it is unpleasant to the government.

“We stand with Sheik Nuru Khalid for speaking up while most other Imams, mostly bigots and false prophets, are protecting their own selfish interests as their country is being destroyed and their peoples perishing.

“Standing up for country via speaking truth to its powers is not blasphemous, but, a moral, spiritual, civic, constitutional and a patriotic obligation that every citizen owes his/her country in both its good and challenging times, because, true patriotism is never and must never be defined by the decree or the fiat of any government in power at anytime the way it has been done in Nigeria since independence,” .