Northern governors who cheered Sheikh Jingir’s attack on Christians come under fire

By Kingston Magare 11.8.2026
Jos Plateau State based Islamic cleric Sheikh Yahya Jingir sparked a political firestorm when he said before four cheering governors Christians do not deserve a stake in the political evolution of Nigeria.
In his attempt to justify his support for the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All-Progressive Congress of President Bola Tinubu and Kassim Shettima the cleric urged Muslim not to vote for Christian “infidels” because Muslims are more in numbers. He was speaking during last Saturday’s mass wedding event in Kano.
Kano State governor Kabir Abba Yusuf, Jigawa governor Umar Namadi, Zamfara governor Dauda Lawal and Katsina governor Dikko Umar appeared to be applauding his divisive speech.
More than 72 hours after the event those governors have kept mute, while the rest of the country is lambasting Sheikh Jingir over his attempt to play the religious card ahead of the 2027 elections.
“There is only one thing worse and that saddened me more than what Sheikh Jingir 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,” said Nigeria Ambassador to South Africa designate Femi Fani Kayode.
Plateau State based Prophet Isa El-Buba said it was shameful for the governors to sit there and be applauding a hate speech while violence by bandits has almost destroyed their domain
“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.
Writing on X social media Dan Masani a social activist described the incident as a tragedy.
“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.
Isa Sanusi, Country Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said such comments are un-Islamic.
“The damage Malam Yahaya Jingir of Jos is doing to Islam and the entire Muslim ummah of northern Nigeria is dangerous and totally un-Islamic. Islam does not condone injustice, discrimination and manipulation. What he is doing is weaponising religion for personal and political ends.
“It is sad that politicians and the political party that benefit from Mallam Jingir’s weaponisation of Islam for elections never — directly or indirectly — distance themselves from his advocacy of religious hatred. No preacher — Christian or Muslim should be allowed to use religion to incite hatred,” Sanusi said.
Former Nigeria’s minister of sports Solomon Dalung said it was a sad, troubling comment to make.
“A Muslim-Muslim ticket does not put food on a Muslim family’s table. It does not secure a kidnapped Muslim farmer. It does not give a Muslim child a good school. It does not reduce the price of fuel, food or medicine. It does not create jobs. It does not fix a broken road or keep electricity on.
“Nigeria is not a religious battlefield where one faith must establish its superiority over another.
“And frankly, if a Muslim-Muslim ticket is supposed to be defended on the basis of competence, justice, security, economic progress and good governance, then defend it on those grounds.
“But if the argument has now become ‘we are more in numbers, therefore we should dominate,’ then we have moved from democracy into religious arithmetic.