A prominent Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yahya Jingir, has reignited debate over religiously configured political tickets, calling on Muslims in Kano State to back Muslim-Muslim candidacies and register for their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of upcoming elections.
Jingir made the comments at a campaign rally for Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, themed “Abba Go Again,” where the governor was in attendance. Footage of the address, delivered in Hausa, has since circulated widely online.
In his speech, the cleric lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for popularizing the Muslim-Muslim ticket arrangement, describing himself as one of its “staunch advocates” and urging Muslims to unite behind it.
“Special thanks to my political hero, Bola Tinubu, who raised the flag of this political ideology,” Jingir said, according to the video.
Addressing criticism of the Muslim-Muslim formula from Christian and other religious groups, Jingir argued that other faiths run their own political campaigns and questioned why his advocacy should be singled out.
He also dismissed arguments rooted in Nigeria’s religious pluralism, suggesting that Muslims represent the country’s demographic majority a claim that is contested and not independently verified in this report.
He went on to urge attendees to obtain their voter cards to demonstrate that strength at the polls, invoking the outcome of a previous election in which opponents of the Muslim-Muslim arrangement placed third.
In one of the more inflammatory portions of his address, Jingir warned the crowd against “deception” from groups with a “dark history,” referencing a historic bombing of a mosque in Kano and attributing it to the Maitatsine movement, which he characterized as “Christians in disguise.”
The Maitatsine movement was a radical Islamist sect that emerged in northern Nigeria and was responsible for a series of deadly uprisings in the early 1980s, particularly in Kano.
Historical accounts of the movement do not support characterizing it as a Christian-linked group; it is widely documented as an offshoot of Islamic revivalism led by Muhammadu Marwa, known as Maitatsine. Jingir’s claim linking the group to Christians could not be independently verified in this report.
The cleric closed his remarks by praising what he called a government supportive of “family values” and claimed without providing evidence that people were converting to Islam in the United States as a result.
Governor Yusuf’s office has not issued a statement addressing Jingir’s remarks as of press time.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Sheikh Yahya Jingir’s speech at the Kano rally went beyond ordinary political campaigning; it framed elections as a religious contest, urged Muslims to mobilize against a perceived non-Muslim threat, and made a false, inflammatory claim linking the Maitatsine insurgency to Christians.
This rhetoric mixes legitimate political advocacy (Muslim-Muslim tickets, PVC registration) with unverified and divisive claims that misrepresent history and could deepen religious tension in a country where such tensions have had violent consequences before.
Readers should weigh the political message separately from the factual claims, which do not hold up to scrutiny.
