Gumi's views reflect a stance held by many Nigerians who fear that U.S. involvement will aggravate the security situation in the country by drawing more jihadist groups willing to confront the U.S. and its allies.
President Bola Tinubu's administration is walking a political tightrope after the U.S. conducted air strikes in Nigeria's northwest against Islamic State affiliates accused of killing Christians.
The strikes in Nigeria's Sokoto state in the early hours of December 26 eliminated several Islamic State fighters responsible for attacks that Trump said targeted "primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!" While it hasn't been possible to confirm casualties, residents living near the Buani forest in the Tangaza district of the state reported hearing blasts and finding explosive debris.
Though Nigerian officials corroborated the claim, saying it was a collaboration between both countries, there are signs that U.S. involvement may become a political burden for the Tinubu administration. Following the attack, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said Tinubu gave his consent for the strikes on the condition "that it must be made clear that it is a joint operation, and it is not targeting any religion."
That concern was neither reflected in Trump's statements nor those of his Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, both of whom placed more emphasis on stopping attacks against Christians. For Tinubu, that carries substantial political risk in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north, the region that gave him the most votes in the 2023 elections, which is also expected to deliver a second term to him in 2027.
To bolster the narrative of a joint operation, Nigeria's Information Minister Mohammed Idris has provided more details on what transpired. The attack was aimed at neutralizing "two major Islamic State terrorist enclaves" that intelligence identified as infiltration and staging points used by foreign fighters working with local affiliate groups.
"A total of 16 GPS-guided precision munitions were deployed using MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial platforms, successfully neutralizing the targeted ISIS elements attempting to penetrate Nigeria from the Sahel corridor," said Idris. "The operation was carried out under established command and control structures, with the full involvement of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and under the supervision of the Honourable Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Chief of Defence Staff."
Munitions debris was found in Jaba, a village in the Tambuwal council area of Sokoto state and in the town of Offa, Kwara state in central Nigeria, close to a hotel, according to the Information Minister. He insisted there were no civilian casualties and that the affected areas were secured by the authorities.
Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a prominent Islamic cleric in northern Nigeria described the air strikes as a "neo-Crusade against Islam" and condemned Nigeria's military collaboration with the U.S. "If Nigeria wants military assistance, China, Turkey, and Pakistan can do the job effectively," Gumi said. "The US involvement in Nigeria will attract the real anti-U.S. forces, making our land the theatre of war."
Gumi's views reflect a stance held by many Nigerians who fear that U.S. involvement will aggravate the security situation in the country by drawing more jihadist groups willing to confront the U.S. and its allies. Following Trump's initial threat in October to intervene in Nigeria with "guns ablazing" there was a surge of attacks by jihadist groups in the northern and central parts of the country, attacking Christian churches and schools, taking hundreds of hostages.
Fears of further polarization have been further fueled by comments by Israeli Prime Minister reinforcing claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria coming barely a day before the U.S. air strikes. Some analysts now fear that such rhetoric combined with foreign military strikes seen as partisan to one religion may be putting the country on course for a religious war.
"I condemn the United States air bombardment of Sokoto carried out under the guise of protecting Christians," said Malcolm Omirhobo, a Nigerian human rights lawyer. "Our insecurity did not arise from faith differences but from impunity, governance collapse, and political indulgence of violent actors."
A religious war in Nigeria will likely overwhelm the country's security forces, according to Omirhobo. For a country roughly split between a mainly Muslim north and a largely Christian south, there is hardly any demographic that will not be adversely affected in such a religious conflict, he said.
Yet, for Tinubu, it appears unlikely that the political pressure on his government from the Trump administration to go harder on jihadist groups will abate anytime soon. That carries risks for his political calculations ahead of the 2027 elections. A Muslim from the country's southwest, his route to power in 2023 was smoothened by his choice of a Muslim running mate, bucking a long-established tradition of representing the two main faiths at the presidency.
A major challenge now is how to blunt the narrative of a religious conflict while at the same time convincing suspicious Muslim voters that military collaboration with the U.S. against jihadists is not a conspiracy against their faith.