Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has alleged that American intelligence agencies are sponsoring banditry and Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria.
Gumi made the allegation in a Facebook post on Saturday while reacting to an earlier post by Mike Arnold, a former Mayor of Blanco, Texas, who has been vocal about claims of alleged Christian persecution in Nigeria.
Arnold had shared photos of himself with several Nigerians, including former Cross River State governor, Donald Duke, and Nigeria’s Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris.
“These are a few of the people I’ve met and places I’ve been to in Nigeria over the years,” Arnold wrote while posting the photographs.
Responding, Gumi criticised Arnold for promoting what he described as a false narrative of Christian genocide, alleging that American intelligence agencies were behind insecurity in parts of Nigeria.
“After all the barking about ‘fake Christian genocide’, it is shameful to realise that this man has been almost everywhere where Christians are prosperous, yet he has not visited Zamfara, Katsina and other northern states suffering from the activities of bandits and Boko Haram allegedly sponsored by the same American intelligence. One of the things Islam abhors is lies and liars,” Gumi wrote.
Efforts to obtain a reaction from the United States Embassy in Nigeria were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report. Calls placed to the embassy’s spokesperson, Aisha Gambari, were not answered, while a WhatsApp message sent to her had yet to receive a response.
Gumi has consistently criticised United States involvement in Nigeria’s security matters.
In December, following airstrikes reportedly ordered by former US President Donald Trump against suspected terrorist enclaves in Sokoto State, the cleric condemned the action, describing it as an attack on Islam.
The allegation comes amid ongoing security cooperation between Nigeria and the United States aimed at tackling insecurity in the country.
On Friday, presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga disclosed that the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, met with US Vice President JD Vance and other American officials to strengthen collaboration on security challenges facing Nigeria.
