Group kicks against calls for dismissal of Chief Imam’s spokesperson

A group, the Independent Zongo Communicators Team have described as misplaced calls for the dismissal of the Spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu.

According to the group, the Coalition of Progressive Muslim Youth Organisations – Ghana, had no locus within the scheme of administration arrangements of Office of National Chief Imam to be ordering the National Chief Imam to dismiss individuals working in his Office.

In a petition addressed to the Office of the National Chief Imam, the Progressive Muslim Youth Organisation – Ghana, said the Chief Imam’s Spokesperson in discharging his extra duties as the Acting Chairman of CODEO towed a political line when he in his assessment of the 2020 election results asked Ghanaians to give confidence to the presidential election results declared by the Electoral Commission (EC) as it reflected accurately how citizens voted on December 7, 2020.

The alleged that Sheikh Shaibu by his statement bastardised the political immunity of the Chief Imam to the anger of the Muslim ummah in Ghana.

They further accused him of going against the position of various Civil Society Organisations such as the National House of Chiefs, to openly endorse the New Patriotic Party's position on the new voter registration exercise saying "the new register will help Ghana" which according to the group, got the NPP to suggest that the National Chief Imam was a pro-NPP activist to the dissatisfaction of the Muslim Ummah across the world.

“On the basis of these aberrations on the part of the Spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, we wish to demand his immediate dismissal from the Office before he drags the image of our revered Leader and the sanctity of his office into disrepute,” they demanded.

However, in a rebuttal, the contained in a statement released on Monday, December 21, 2020, the Independent Muslim Communicators Team said the Sheikh Aremeyawu did not violate any rules of work ethics in respect of his job.

They insist that the dismissal calls is an agenda being pursued by pseudo-political organizations who are using the Coalition of Progressive Muslim Youth Organisations-Ghana as a decoy to register their displeasure with the observatory report presented by (CODEO) on the just ended 2020 elections.

“We are urging the Coalition of Progressive Muslim Youth Organization to rather redirect their petition to the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) where Shiekh Arimiyaw Shaibu works as an election observer,” portions of the statement by the IZCT read.

Read below the full statement by the Independent Zongo Communicators Team

THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL CHIEF IMAM AN OPEN APPLICATION IN OPPOSITION TO A PETITION BY COALITION OF PROGRESSIVE MUSLIM YOUTH CALLING FOR THE REMOVAL OF SHEIKH ARIMIYAW SHAIBU FROM THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL CHIEF IMAM

We read with dismay a petition purporting to be coming from Coalition of Progressive Muslim Youth organization – Ghana, more or less ordering National Chief Imam to dismiss Sheikh Arimiyaw Shaibu from the Office of National Chief Imam.

We wonder what locus the Coalition of Progressive Muslim Youth Organization have, within the scheme of administration arrangements of Office of National Chief Imam to be ordering National Chief Imam to dismiss individuals working in the Office of National Chief Imam.

The impudence with which the petition calling for the dismissal of Sheikh Arimiyaw Shaibu from the Office of National Chief Imam constitute a gross interference and political intimidation of the persona of the National Chief Imam on one hand, and the Office of National Chief Imam on the other.

First of all, the Office of National Chief Imam does not take orders of dismissal from pseudo-political organizations serving as decoys in pursuit of political agenda to dismiss people working with the office of National Chief Imam. Similarly, the Office of National Chief Imam will not dismiss individuals working for the office of National Chief Imam on the whimsical and disabled accusations of odious political organization.

In our view, if Sheikh Arimiyaw Shaibu has violated rules of work ethics in respect of his job at the Office National Chief Imam, it is not the business of any Muslim organization to be ordering the National Chief Imam to dismiss workers from the office of National Chief Imam.

The call to dismiss Shiekh Arimiyaw Shaibu from the Office of National Chief Imam by the Coalition of Progressive Muslim Youth Organization is misplaced and not be entertained.

We are urging the Coalition of Progressive Muslim Youth Organization to rather redirect their petition to the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) where Shiekh Arimiyaw Shaibu works as an election observer.

The said petition appeared to be coming from a group of politicians who are not happy with the observatory report presented by (CODEO) on the just ended 2020 elections and the subsequent thanks given service by the President and Vice President-elect with Chief Imam at the Aboso Okai Central Mosque.

The thanks given program organized at the Aboso Okai Central Mosque is a state arranged program and cannot be said to have been engineered by Sheikh Arimiyaw Shaibu. The National Chief Imam is a statesman, and a law-abiding citizen, who have enormous respect for the state institutions; and that includes the electoral commission who is the returning officer with the constitutional mandate to declare a winner for the presidential elections in Ghana.

If the electoral commission declares a candidate as the winner of presidential elections, the Office of National Chief Imam, is obligated to accord due recognition to the president-elect, in this case: Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.

The accusation against Sheikh Arimiyaw Shaibu are ill-motivated, disabled and cannot constitute solid evidence to convict to the dismissal of Sheikh Arimiyaw Shaibu.

We, therefore, consider petition calling for the dismissal of Sheikh Arimiyaw Shaibu to be bogus, unmeritorious, suffering from dubitable and factual disabilities and must be dismissed.

Salaam Alaykum

Signed

Imam Muhammad Salisu Sulaimana

(Chairman: Independent Zango Communicators Team)

SUPPORTING SIGNITORIES

Alhaji Baturey Sadiku - Secretary 0249759708

Abubakar Tuo-ri Issak - Ass. Secretary 0548555408

Abdul Mumin Abagei - Coordinator 0244254857

D. K. Buameh - Treasurer 0246609353

Hajia Damata Sulaiman - 0242664853

Alhaji Bismark Seidu - Operations 0243285691

Malam Ibrahim Morla - Deputy operations 0553721031

Sufyan Abdul Latif - Media 0244073364

Muhammad Awal - PRO 0241485790

Jamal Zerkie - Deputy PRO 0244869075

Aubakar Tiibe North East Coordinator 0242875374

Muhammad Awal - Ashante Regional Coordinator 0506830530

Adamu Dauda - Central Regional Coordinators 0506327951

Mardiya Hussein - Member 0546429290