Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has claimed that a doctor told him that Christians in Middle Beltare now burning empty coffins to appear as burial and circulating the video to stage mass killings and push a narrative of genocide.
The statement came as he responded to criticisms while on his ongoing trip to Turkey.
Gumi said, “A doctor wrote to me: “Do you know that some Middle Belt Christian groups are now staging fake mass killings. They are burying empty coffins and recording the process as if real victims were killed, just to push the narrative of a Christian genocide. This is desperation at its peak. A disgrace. Manipulating information just to provoke hatred and international sympathy? I hope it’s not true!.”
The cleric dismissed suggestions that he fled Nigeria to escape potential U.S. military action following President Donald Trump’s claims of a “Christian genocide.” He explained that his Turkish trip had been planned long before Trump’s statement.
“This so-called Christian genocide is part of a well-orchestrated effort to malign Islam and fuel Islamophobia,” he asserted.
He urged President Bola Tinubu to take diplomatic action against the U.S., emphasizing that Nigeria should also diversify its global alliances.
