Four northern governors, who are members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, have come under criticism over their alleged reaction to remarks made by Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yahya Jingir who described Christians as infidels, claiming that Nigeria belongs to Muslims.
The controversy followed comments made by the cleric on Saturday during a mass wedding ceremony organised by the Kano State Government for 1,500 couples whose marriages were sponsored by the government.
Speaking at the event, Sheikh Jingir said he had no regrets supporting the APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, arguing that the decision reflected the numerical strength of Muslims in the country.
He further suggested that Muslims were taking over Nigeria.
A video of the event which has gone viral on social media showed the cleric making the remarks while the governors of Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara and Katsina States — Abba Yusuf, Umar Namadi, Dauda Lawal and Dikko Umar Radda respectively — were present.
Some of the governors appeared to cheer and applaud the cleric as he made the controversial remarks, triggering criticism from several Nigerians.
Reacting to the development, former Minister of Aviation and Nigerian Ambassador to South Africa, Femi Fani-Kayode, expressed disappointment over the conduct of the Kano State Governor.
Fani-Kayode said the governor’s alleged reaction to the remarks was more disturbing to him than the cleric’s comments.
“There is only one thing worse and that saddened me more than what he said and that is to have seen my friend and brother the Governor of Kano state, cheering him on and celebrating it.
“We will not keep quiet and watch our faith being dragged all over the floor because of politics,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Also reacting, Plateau-based cleric, Prophet Isa El-Buba, condemned the governors’ alleged reaction to the comments.
In a video circulating online, El-Buba questioned the conduct of the governors and criticised the security situation in Northern Nigeria.
“I saw the governors cheering him. This is how insane all of you are in Northern Nigeria. Are you not ashamed of the banditry and other criminalities in the North?
“We have the highest level of power and drug addicts in the North, are you not ashamed of it?” he said.
Similarly, social media influencer Dan Masani described the incident as a tragedy.
He wrote on X: “The Sheikh preaching hate is not my concern, the tragedy with this video is that three state APC governors; Kano, Katsina and Jigawa were all cheering and in agreement with the Sheikh.”
“The insecurity in Nigeria and the North in particular is state sponsored,” he alleged.
Four APC govs under scrutiny for ‘cheering’ Sheik Jingir during anti-Christian comment