Leave Me Out Of South West “Dirty Local Politics”, Sheikh Gumi Cries Out

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

Controversial Kaduna-based Islamic Cleric, Sheikh Ahmed Gumi, has insisted that he has the constitutional right to visit Ibadan or any other part of the country as a free citizen of Nigeria.

Gumi cautioned against dragging his name into what he described as the  “dirty local politics” of the South West region of the country.

Gumi’s reaction comes amidst the renewed wave of abductions, and Islamic extremism pervading some parts of the South West, including Oyo State where some school children and their teachers were recently kidnapped in Esiele, and have since remained in captivity.

The Islamic teacher and preacher has, in the last couple of days, come under severe criticisms, with not a few questioning the motives behind his recent attendance of an Islamic programme in Ibadan.

Many of the critics have been expressing concerns that the Oyo State capital and other parts of the South West region have since, after Gumi’s visit, been convulsing from a spate of violent attacks and kidnappings, allegedly, perpetrated  by suspected banditry elements.

They also allude to the Islamic Cleric’s, alleged, defence of banditry elements as a solid foundation for the suspicion.

Although the Vice Principal of the Esiele Community High School, Mrs Rachael Alamu, has recently debunked claims making the rounds that the abductors of the Oyo State school children are among other things demanding the implementation of Sharia law in the South West region as a precondition for the release of their victims, critics have  being trying hard to establish a correlation between Gumi’s Ibadan visit and the kidnappers alleged disposition

However, in a post shared on his Facebook page on Thursday June 9, 2026, Gumi expressed serious concern and regret that his recent visit to Ibadan has been subjected to varying interpretations as well as wrongly linked to the unwholesome political activities ongoing in the South West.

While distancing himself from the situation in the region, Gumi explained that his visit to Ibadan was never at the instance of any Islamic group or individuals.

According to him, he was at the Ibadan Islamic event as a representative of the Northern region’s Islamic scholars and clerics (Ulamas)

“I quite understand now how Islamophobia is shaping politics in  (South-west) and why I was unnecessarily dragged into their dirty local politics.

“I was in Ibadan, not by the invitation of any SW Muslim individual or group, but as a representative of the Coalition of Northern Ulama.

“Can anybody stop me from going anywhere in Nigeria?” Gumi queried.