Bugaje calls Muslim-Muslim ticket a fraud at Kano Islamic summit

A political activist and Islamic scholar, Dr Usman Bugaje, has said the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket is a trick used to win Muslim votes while the problems facing those voters remain unsolved.

He spoke in Kano at a one-day summit held by the Islamic Forum of Nigeria, where scholars, professionals and other stakeholders met to discuss the difficulties facing Muslims in the country.

The gathering was themed "Dilemma of Muslims in Nigeria: The Way Forward" and covered insecurity, poverty, religious discrimination, governance and the effect of government policies on citizens.

Bugaje argued that putting Muslims in high office does not by itself protect Muslim interests. He pointed to continuing insecurity and economic hardship as signs that leadership has not delivered, and said politicians have used the shared faith of a ticket to gather support without improving safety or living standards.

He raised particular concern about the North. According to him, Boko Haram insurgents continued to operate in communities around Maiduguri, where they reportedly collect levies and settle disputes in their own courts. He also described Sokoto State as worrying, saying travellers from the state capital to Isa Local Government Area can only make the trip twice a week, and then with the help of the Joint Task Force.

Those claims were his own account of the situation; they were not independently confirmed at the summit.

Bugaje said such conditions raise serious questions about whether elected leaders can keep citizens safe. In his view, religious representation should be judged by whether people's welfare improves, not by the faith of those in power.

He also warned that Nigeria leans heavily on foreign drugs, putting the share imported at about 70 per cent. Building a local pharmaceutical industry and guarding the country's borders, he said, are both needed for real independence. He added that drug abuse among young people and women is growing and threatens the social and economic health of Muslim communities.

Other voices at the summit

Professor Sulaiman Abdullahi Karwai of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, argued that the Muslim-Muslim ticket does not necessarily represent Muslim interests, saying politicians adopted the arrangement largely as an election strategy because Muslims are a large share of the population. He noted, however, that a Muslim presidential candidate emerged in the 2023 election even with three Muslims in the race, which he said shows the voting strength of Muslim Nigerians.

Karwai blamed rising hardship on inflation, the removal of the fuel subsidy, exchange rate changes and tax reforms. He also raised the reported abduction and killing of a professor and a nurse at ABU Zaria, and criticised what he called too few federal capital projects in states with Muslim majorities. He recalled that the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, set up the Petroleum Trust Fund to soften fuel price increases, and said its work supported health and education institutions.

The summit chairman, Alhaji Gidado Mukhtar, rejected the idea that Nigeria is a secular country, describing it as a multi-religious nation where everyone should be free to practise their faith.

The forum's national chairman, General Ahmad Daku (rtd), was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Muhammad Tukur Bello. The acting executive secretary, Alhaji Dalhatu Muhammad Gwarzo, said the meeting looked at banditry, kidnapping and religious discrimination, and urged governors and federal and state lawmakers to act on the community's concerns. He asked Imams to use Friday sermons to encourage prayer for the country.

In its communiqué, the summit asked for stronger security, a review of economic policies that deepen hardship, fairness in federal appointments and protection of the right to wear the hijab. It also urged Muslim groups to work together and communities to invest more in education, healthcare, economic empowerment and Islamic social finance.

Gwarzo said a committee will be set up to study the resolutions and draw up a plan to carry them out.