Hardship: Man demolishes 30-year-old Mosque he built for community to build shops for rent

By Mo Isa

A man has started the demolition of a mosque he built 30 years ago in his community due to the hardship facing the country.

Converseer learned that the man, whose name is yet to be ascertained, wants to build shops for rent instead.

The incident which happened in one of the states in Northern Nigeria was brought to the fore by A. Ayofe on Thursday.

According to Ayofe, the man locked up the mosque on Wednesday and asked people not to pray in it again as he wanted to build shops in the place.

On Thursday morning, he climbed on top of the mosque and started removing the roof, tagging the current hardship in Nigeria as the cause of his action.

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He said he has been asking for donations for about two months but can’t even get up to five rubbers of corn. Since he couldn’t sell his house close to the mosque, he decided to build shops in place of the mosque.

“This man on top of the roof built a mosque for his community about 30 years ago. Yesterday (21 Feb. 2024), he announced to the community that nobody should enter the mosque again and pray. He locked it and went home with the key.

“This morning (22 Feb. 2024), he jumped on top of the mosque and started removing the roofing. He said that he wants to build shops there so that he can get something to sustain himself due to the challenges of the country which he is facing right now.

“According to him, he said he has been asking for help and donations from mosque members to buy food. He said he is jobless and the only thing he has is a house close to the mosque and he doesn’t want to sell his house.

“For two months, nobody was able to give him five rubber of corn. He said if hunger kills him, they will be the first to help bury him.

“He said he has prayed for forgiveness and Allah will understand his condition,” Ayofe posted on X (formerly Twitter).

See the photos below…