On February 23, 2026, a joint report from the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Appropriations Committee landed with considerable weight. Addressed to President Donald Trump, it recommended the repeal of Shariah codes and anti-blasphemy laws currently operating across twelve northern Nigerian states. The same report described Nigeria as the deadliest country in the world to be a Christian.
Nigeria’s Muslim community did not wait long to respond.
Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a Muslim cleric, whose statement has been circulating widely, directed his words not just at Washington but at Nigerian Christians he believes are cheering the American position from the sidelines. In his words, “America asking for the removal of Shariah in Nigeria and Nigerian Christians supporting this must know that they are inviting a problem that could divide this country.”
Gumi described Shariah as the Muslims’ prerogative and questioned the consistency of an American administration that backs Israel , a state where religious law carries significant influence over governance while treating Islamic legal structures in Nigeria as a problem to be solved. He went further, pushing back against the framing of the crisis as a war waged exclusively against Christians. He pointed to mass killings in Zamfara and Plateau as evidence that Muslims have bled in this conflict too. “I don’t believe a certain faith group is the only target, as the US is portraying it,” he said.
