In a strongly worded statement that has reignited national debate over the motives behind Nigeria’s escalating wave of school abductions, renowned Islamic scholar and preacher Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has alleged that the recent surge in mass kidnappings of schoolchildren is being deliberately engineered to promote what he described as an “unpatriotic narration of Christian genocide.” The Kaduna-based cleric, who has long been a polarizing figure in discussions on insecurity and banditry in northern Nigeria, insisted that the crisis transcends religious lines, pointing out that Muslim pupils are equally victimized in these attacks.
Sheikh Gumi made the claim on his verified Facebook page on Thursday, amid widespread outrage following yet another abduction of schoolchildren in the north-west region. “The recent increase in schoolchildren kidnappings is engineered to serve an unpatriotic narration of ‘Christian genocide’, and sadly, Muslim children are also kidnapped,” he wrote. The post quickly went viral, eliciting thousands of reactions ranging from support among his followers to sharp criticism from those who accused him of downplaying the suffering of Christian communities in the affected areas.
The cleric’s remarks come at a particularly sensitive moment for Nigeria, a country already grappling with multiple security challenges that include insurgency, banditry, herder-farmer clashes, and separatist agitation. Since the infamous 2014 Chibok girls’ abduction by Boko Haram, which saw over 270 mostly Christian schoolgirls taken from their dormitory in Borno State, the phenomenon of mass school kidnappings has recurred with alarming frequency. In the past five years alone, thousands of students—both Christian and Muslim—have been seized by armed groups, many of them in Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, and Sokoto states. Ransom demands running into hundreds of millions of naira have become the norm, turning the abduction of children into a lucrative criminal enterprise.
Sheikh Gumi’s assertion that the attacks are being manipulated to project a narrative of targeted Christian persecution is not entirely new. In previous statements, he has suggested that certain interest groups—both within and outside Nigeria—benefit from portraying the violence as a religious war between Muslims and Christians. He has repeatedly called for dialogue with the armed bandits, arguing that many of them are not ideologically driven jihadists but rather marginalized Fulani herders pushed into crime by poverty, injustice, and state neglect. Critics, however, accuse him of sympathizing with criminals and undermining military efforts.
In his latest post, the cleric painted a grim picture of Nigeria’s overall security deterioration, comparing the situation to “a burning candle” that will only be extinguished when divine intervention occurs. “The security situation is worsening day by day like a burning candle until Allah decrees its end,” he wrote, a statement that many interpreted as fatalistic and defeatist coming from a figure of his influence.
Gumi has courted controversy in the past with similar pronouncements. He has questioned the authenticity of some funerals of victims, insinuating that certain incidents may have been staged or exaggerated for political mileage. He has also alleged foreign sponsorship of terrorist elements, claiming that external powers have a vested interest in keeping Nigeria unstable. While he has never provided concrete evidence for these claims, they resonate with a segment of the population that believes geopolitical forces are exploiting Nigeria’s ethnic and religious fault lines.
The timing of Sheikh Gumi’s statement is particularly significant. Just weeks ago, gunmen stormed a public school in Kaduna State, abducting over 100 pupils—most of whom were later released after ransoms were reportedly paid. Similar incidents in Katsina and Zamfara states have kept the issue in the headlines and heightened parental anxiety across the north. Religious leaders from both Christian and Muslim communities have condemned the attacks, with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) repeatedly describing them as part of a systematic attempt to wipe out Christian presence in the north. CAN’s northern chapter has cited the destruction of churches, displacement of Christian communities, and targeted killings alongside the school abductions as evidence of religious cleansing.
Yet Sheikh Gumi’s intervention seeks to challenge that framing. By emphasizing that Muslim children are also victims—often in majority-Muslim states—he appears to be pushing back against what he sees as a divisive narrative that risks escalating communal tensions. Supporters argue that acknowledging the non-sectarian nature of the criminal enterprise is the first step toward a unified national response. Detractors, however, view his comments as an attempt to deflect responsibility from elements within the Muslim Fulani community widely believed to be behind many of the kidnappings.
As Nigeria approaches another election cycle, the politicization of insecurity has reached fever pitch. Accusations of government complicity, selective outrage, and the weaponization of religion dominate public discourse. Sheikh Gumi’s latest pronouncement is therefore unlikely to calm tempers. Instead, it has added another layer of complexity to an already volatile debate about who benefits from the chaos and how the country can extricate itself from a crisis that shows no signs of abating.
For millions of Nigerian parents—Christian and Muslim alike—the scholarly arguments and counter-arguments offer little comfort. What matters most is the safe return of every abducted child and an end to the terror that has turned schools, once seen as sanctuaries, into hunting grounds for criminals. Until that day comes, voices like Sheikh Ahmad Gumi’s will continue to provoke, divide, and—whether intentionally or not—keep the nation talking about the root causes of its unending nightmare.
