Popular Bauchi-based Islamic cleric, Idris Abdul’aziz, has made another comment on Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, weeks after going viral for threatening the President’s wife.
Recall that the Chief Imam of Dusten-Tanshi Jumma’ah Mosque Bauchi attracted a barrage of reactions in February this year after a video clip of him threatening the life of the president’s wife surfaced on the internet.
Abdul’aziz had declared that Remi Tinubu deserved to die for her Christian faith.
The Islamic teacher was also quoted to have described the Muslim-Muslim ticket that brought President Bola Tinubu and his Vice, Kashim Shettima, to power as a scam.
Nevertheless, the First Lady remained unfazed by the cleric’s threat, stating that at the age of 64, she should not fear death.
Mrs Tinubu made this declaration while she was in Bauchi to inaugurate various projects in the state in March.
Commenting on the situation during the first lady’s visit, Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed expressed his disapproval, labelling the threat as intolerable.
He apologized to Mrs Tinubu and reassured her of her security within the state, promising to take necessary measures against the cleric accountable for the threat.
However, Abdul’aziz, has made a contrary statement, denying the claims that he threatened the first lady. The cleric, who spoke at his first public appearance after his return from self-imposed exile, stated that he has no business with the president’s wife.
According to him, he has never commented on President Tinubu let alone his wife.
Speaking while closing this year’s Ramadan commentary of the Holy Qur’an in Bauchi yesterday, the cleric said: “I have no business with her whatsoever and I don’t even know her correct name. I have never commented on her husband, the president, let alone her. I don’t have anything to do with the wife of the president. It was a smearing campaign orchestrated from Bauchi to cause disaffection between me and the wife of the president. Two groups are responsible for this.”
He described the allegations against him as a smear campaign aimed at tarnishing his reputation.
“I challenge those behind this to bring forward authentic video or audio evidence where I was quoted issuing a threat to the wife of the president,” Daily Post quoted the cleric saying.
