A Nigerian Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abdurrahman Abubakar Azzamfari, has dismissed reports that more than 500 northern Islamic scholars endorsed President Bola Tinubu for a second term in 2027.
Azzamfari described the claim as false, saying the issue of endorsing Tinubu was not discussed or agreed upon at the meeting of the Muslim Intellectual Forum held in Dutse, Jigawa State.
The cleric made his position known in a video message shared on social media.
“The talk that 500 scholars at the meeting agreed to endorse and re-elect Tinubu is not true. That was not discussed with us at all,” he said.
The controversy followed a statement by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Muttaka Darma, who, while presenting the forum’s resolution, said more than 500 Islamic scholars, preachers and clerics from the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory had passed a vote of confidence in Tinubu and called for support for his re-election.
But Azzamfari said the scholars did not give the reported endorsement or 100 per cent support to the President.
He said anyone seeking their support should first listen to their concerns and implement their recommendations.
“If they want us to support Tinubu, let them hear our views and suggestions, and let us see them carried out in truth,” he said.
The cleric also said any agreement reached between the scholars and the government should be documented and given to them before they could publicly support the administration.
Azzamfari said the Jigawa meeting was the fifth gathering organised by the Muslim Intellectual Forum since April.
He explained that the forum was initially presented to the scholars as a non-political platform where they could advise the government and support citizens facing hardship.
“They told us we were invited not for politics, but to help government and to distribute support to the people as those close to them,” he said.
According to him, scholars were also expected to advise the government on its mistakes and possible ways of correcting them.
However, he expressed disappointment with the way some of the meetings were conducted, saying scholars were not given enough opportunity to speak.
On the Jigawa meeting, Azzamfari alleged that participants waited from 11am until after 2:30pm before government officials and governors addressed them.
He claimed journalists were later asked to leave before being brought back and told that the scholars had endorsed Tinubu’s re-election.
The cleric said only one scholar from Kano was allowed to speak briefly on behalf of the participants before he was stopped.
Azzamfari said he was not opposed to Tinubu but would not support any position he believed was untrue or unfair.
“I am not with oppression and I am not with lies. Whenever I am invited to something good, I will go. If it is good, we support it. If not, I will not do it,” he said.
