By Sule Aliyu, Bauchi
The management of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) has revoked a plot of land earlier allocated to the Tijjaniyya Muslim Students Association of Nigeria (TIMSAN), ATBU Chapter, and announced a restructuring of its Islamic leadership as part of efforts to resolve a religious dispute that disrupted peace and stability on campus.
The crisis began after the ATBU Shura Council barred the Tijjaniyya group from using the university’s central mosque for its zikr activities.
In an attempt to ease tensions, the university management allocated a separate piece of land to the group for the construction of a mosque.
However, the decision sparked protests and student unrest, prompting the intervention of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Addressing a press conference at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Secretariat in Bauchi, the university’s Director of Information and Public Relations, Mallam Zailani Bappah, announced that the institution had withdrawn the 100-foot by 50-foot plot earlier allocated to TIMSAN at the Gubi Campus.
Bappah explained that the crisis escalated on Friday, June 26, 2026, when the university’s Chief Imam, Prof. Mansur Isa Yalwa, and his deputy resigned in protest against the university’s approval of land for TIMSAN to build a sect-specific mosque after the Shura Council had prohibited the group from conducting its activities at the central mosque.
He said the Chief Imam’s remarks during Friday prayers went viral on local, national, and international media platforms, generating widespread public reactions and raising significant security concerns beyond the university community.
According to him, the DSS in Bauchi convened a stakeholders’ meeting on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, involving representatives of the university management, the ATBU Shura Council, the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), and representatives of JIBWIS and TIMSAN.
The meeting adopted a five-point resolution aimed at restoring peace and harmony on campus.
The resolutions include allowing all Islamic sects within the university to conduct their religious activities at designated times in the university mosque; revoking the land allocation earlier granted to JIBWIS/TIMSAN at the Gubi Campus with immediate effect; reconstituting the Shura Council and the MSSN leadership to ensure the inclusion of all Muslim sects on campus; empowering the university management to appoint the Chief Imam and his deputies directly; and strictly enforcing existing regulations governing religious activities within the institution.
Bappah commended the proactive intervention of the DSS, describing its mediation as instrumental in resolving the dispute amicably and restoring peace to the university community.
