By Our Correspondent<\/p>\n
As campaign for 2027 election picks up, a prominent Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abdurrahman Abubakar Azzamfari, has dismissed reports that 500 northern Islamic scholars have endorsed President Bola Tinubu for a second term in the upcoming election, describing the claim as false and misleading.<\/p>\n
The denial comes days after the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, while reading a communique at the end of a \u2018Muslim Intellectual Forum\u2019 meeting in Dutse, Jigawa State, said over 500 clerics from the 19 northern states and FCT had passed a vote of confidence on Tinubu.<\/p>\n
In a viral video message posted on Monday, Sheikh Azzamfari said the endorsement was never discussed or agreed to at the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d he said.
\nThe cleric, who said he attended three of the five meetings held by the forum since April, alleged that participants were manipulated.<\/p>\n
According to him, scholars were kept waiting for hours before governors spoke, after which journalists were briefly sent out and later recalled to hear the endorsement announcement.
\n\u201cAfter the governors spoke, journalists were sent out. Later they were called back and told that we endorsed Tinubu\u2019s re-election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He lamented that only one scholar from Kano was allowed to speak for two minutes out of over 500 present.
\nSheikh Azzamfari said the forum was initially presented as a non-political platform to support government and assist citizens facing hardship.
\n\u201cThey told us we were invited not for politics, but to help government distribute support to the people as those close to them,\u201d he said.
\nThe cleric also faulted the conduct of previous meetings, including one in Kaduna where rice and money were distributed amid loud music. He said scholars\u2019 advice was ignored.<\/p>\n
He denied reports that any money exchanged hands and insisted that any genuine agreement with government must be put in writing.
\n\u201cIf they want us to support Tinubu, let them hear our views and suggestions, and let us see them carried out in truth,\u201d he stated, adding \u201cAny agreement should be in writing and given to us as evidence before we can publicly back him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheikh Azzamfari accused some northern politicians of using religious leaders as \u201chunting dogs\u201d who are called only to catch but excluded when sharing the catch.
\n\u201cThey don\u2019t respect the Supreme Islamic Council. They think any scholar they bring can be used to do anything. That is not how it works,\u201d he said.
\nThe cleric clarified that he was neither for nor against Tinubu, but stood only for truth and fairness.
\n\u201cI 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,\u201d he said.
\nThe Jigawa meeting was the fifth in the series. Previous ones were held in Kaduna and Abuja. Organisers said 12 scholars were selected from each northern state for the Dutse gathering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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