By Bilesanmi Abayomi
An imam of Frontline Estate Central Mosque, Ikorodu, Lagos, Imam Nurudeen Alagbe, has urged Nigerian Muslims to vote for a lesser evil among the presidential candidates.
The call was made during his sermon on Friday, ahead of the February presidential and national assembly elections in Nigeria.
While speaking on the importance of voting, he stressed that it’s important for the Muslim faithful to perform their civic responsibility during the elections, even if the presidential candidates are non-Muslims.
According to him, if there’s no Muslim among the three Frontline contestants, he insists that Muslims must vote. “Adding that religion should be set aside, knowledge, experience, capability, trustworthiness, and less evil among the presidential candidates should be enthroned. The less-evil candidate should be searched for and voted for because he has a piece of less-evil baggage.”
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The imam said, after checking the aforementioned attributes and finding no Muslims among the contestants, “We must vote.”
However, anyone discovered who’s intolerant of Islam or wages war against religion must not be voted for, and those practicing their faith without disturbing Muslims can be voted for.
He cited the enthronement of Rome’s past Christian leader, embraced by the Muslims. Adding that in a situation where there’s no Muslim, a Christian must be voted for
explaining that Christians are closer to the Muslims than the idol worshipers in Rome.
He said a good Christian will not worship an idol, saying, “The only difference between Muslims and Christians is that Jesus Christ is regarded as the son of God, while Muslims (followers of Islam) consider Jesus Christ to be a prophet, a messenger of God, and a messiah. However, they believe that Muhammad was the last prophet, and he recorded the word of God verbatim in the Quran.”
He noted that if there’s any developmental issue between the idol worshippers and the Christians, the Christians should be supported. If only a traditional worshipper and a Christian are the only choices available among the contestants, a Christian should be voted for.
Imam Alagbe cited Hadith and Quran verses (Q60 vs8 to 9 and Q30 vs 1 to 5) that implored Muslims to support a Christian candidate where no Muslims contestants over idol worshippers.
He noted that it’s all citizens’ responsibility to ensure that the forthcoming poll is a peaceful, free, fair, credible, and transparent election.
While Imam Alagbe was praying for a peaceful election, he urged the Muslims to be steadfast in their prayers no matter their grievances against the government and also to pray daily for a peaceful and violence-free election.