Kaduna based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has alleged that the United States listed him for elimination after wrongly identifying him as a Boko Haram member.
Gumi made the claim while addressing his congregation in a video that has since gone viral on social media.
He said he received an early morning call from a senior official in Abuja who briefed him on a national security meeting where his name was allegedly mentioned among persons marked for assassination through a foreign military strike.
According to the cleric, the caller informed him that the United States had classified him as a Boko Haram figure and placed him on a list for possible elimination.
“I received a call from a top official in Abuja informing me that I am among those marked by the US for elimination through an American air strike, as part of Boko Haram. Northern leaders and clerics must speak up against these lies,” Gumi said.
His claim followed a United States air strike carried out on December 25 against members of the Islamic State West Africa Province in parts of Sokoto State.
The operation also came amid earlier remarks by former US President Donald Trump, who had threatened that the United States would intervene in Nigeria “guns blazing” to wipe out terrorists killing Christians.
Gumi criticised foreign military involvement in Nigeria, arguing that such interventions often deepen insecurity rather than solve it.
“They claim to have come here to fight terrorists, but they are the actual terrorists,” he said.
He also questioned the global narrative around terrorism, suggesting that powerful foreign nations played roles in the emergence and sustenance of insurgent groups.
“Even Americans said they came to fight terrorists, so who are the terrorists? They are the ones,” Gumi added, accusing the United States of contributing to the rise of Boko Haram.
The cleric further alleged that Nigeria’s worsening insecurity and deepening social divisions were being fuelled by foreign influence and policies, which he linked to the administration of former US President Donald Trump.
He expressed concern over what he described as the silence of political and religious leaders in northern Nigeria despite repeated attacks by Boko Haram and ISWAP.
“The North, you all know they attacked, but where are your leaders and what have they done about it?” he asked.
Gumi also criticised some religious scholars, accusing them of failing to challenge false narratives promoted by terrorists and alleging that foreign support was being directed exclusively to Christians.
“They attacked us for false claims, and they give support of a certain amount of money to Christians alone. No country will accept that. Either you give support to the entire nation, or we don’t need it,” he said.
He concluded by lamenting what he described as a climate of fear that prevents people from speaking out.
“It happens and nobody is talking. They are all afraid to talk. That’s the situation we are in this country,” Gumi added.
