The General Overseer of El-Buba Outreach Ministries Prophet Isa El-Buba has challenged northern religious leaders to confront banditry, criminality, drug abuse and poverty instead of making statements that divide Nigerians along religious lines.
El-Buba made the comments on Monday in a video shared on his X account while reacting to remarks attributed to Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yahya Jingir.
Jingir had reportedly said Nigerians who do not support a Muslim-Muslim ticket should leave the country, claiming that Nigeria belonged to Muslims.
El-Buba criticised the remarks, nothing that northern Nigeria was already dealing with serious security and social problems that required the attention of religious leaders.
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“Northern Nigerian Muslims with the highest capital poverty of the world. Are you not ashamed? Are you not ashamed that banditry is here in the north? Criminality is here in the north. It is here in the north you have the highest level of drug addicts,” he said.
He maintained that a leader should use his influence to help people facing insecurity, poverty and other problems in their communities.
“You are supposed to be, if you are sane, to begin to preach the message that will help to bring people out of bondage and out of their captivity,” El-Buba said.
El-Buba cites support for Muslims
The cleric said he had supported thousands of Muslims in northern Nigeria, despite having no personal relationship with them.
“As of today, I have supported over 10,000 Muslims across northern Nigeria. They have no relationship with me at all, whether it is the school of their children, whether it is their housekeeping, it is home issues and all of that,” he said.
He questioned the effect of religious leaders describing Christians as “infidels” and asked what could happen if Christian leaders used similar language against Muslims.
“Somebody is standing there in your meeting shouting Muslim, calling Christians infidels. And I’m going to go take this. If Christians should do this, who is going to have a country?” El-Buba asked.
He said his concern was the future of Nigeria and how people from different faiths could live together peacefully.
“I’m coming to every Nigerian with a very serious, heavy heart, because I thought that at this stage of our lives, especially when we’re getting older, we should begin to think about Nigeria and how we can all live together in peace,” he said.
El-Buba also appealed to Muslims who disagreed with such comments to speak against them.
“I am speaking to my Muslim brothers who are saying you cannot be allowing this kind of creatures to be flowing among you,” he said.
‘Nigeria belongs to all of us’
The cleric also criticised the Kano State Government over its response to the reported remarks by Jingir.
He said political and religious leaders should promote justice and fairness instead of allowing religious differences to cause further division.
El-Buba rejected the suggestion that Nigeria belonged to one religious group.
“Nigeria belongs to all of us,” he declared.
He said the country was bigger than individuals or religious interests and called for unity among Nigerians.
“It’s time we prove to such wicked, evil, brainless creatures that Nigeria is bigger than them,” he said.
The exchange comes amid renewed political and religious discussions over power-sharing and the possibility of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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