ATBU Ends Campus Mosque Conflict with Five Points Resolution
The management of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, (ATBU) Bauchi, has withdrawn the land earlier allocated to the Tijjaniyya Muslim Students Association of Nigeria, TIMSAN, and restructured its Islamic leadership to resolve dispute that threatened the long existing peace and tranquility in the university.
The University’s Director of Information and Public Relations, Mallam Zailani Bappah, said at a press briefing in Bauçhi on Wednesday, that the 100ft by 50ft plot earlier allocated to TIMSAN at the Gubi Campus has been revoked.
According to him, the crisis began on Friday, June 26, 2026, when ATBU Chief Imam, Prof. Mansur Isa Yalwa, and his deputy resigned over the land approval without recourse to the institution’s Shura Committee.
They said approving land for a sect-specific mosque would open a floodgate of division among the Muslim community in the future.
The University spokesman explained that the Chief Imam’s pronouncement during Friday prayers went viral and triggered varied reactions of significant security concerns.
Bappah said that the Department of State Services (DSS) on Tuesday met with all stakeholders, including the ATBU Management, Shura Council, Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria and the JIBWIS/TIMSAN chapter.
He said that the meeting adopted a five-point resolution aimed at restoring order, peace and tranquility in the University.
Bappah said the meeting agreed that all sects in the University will perform their religious activities at designated times in the university mosque, while the land allocated to JIBWIS/TIMSAN at Gubi campus was revoked with immediate effect.
The stakeholders also agree that the Shura Council and MSSN leadership be reconstituted to reflect all Muslim sects on campus, while the university will directly appoint Chief Imam and his deputies.
The ATBU management is expected to strictly enforce existing rules guiding religious activities on campus.
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