Retired Police Chief accuses northern clerics of fueling extremism
A retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, Sheriff Abubakar Rabiu, has stirred intense public debate across Northern Nigeria after releasing a strongly worded open letter accusing some Islamic clerics of promoting divisive rhetoric and inadvertently nurturing violent extremism.
The letter, which has circulated widely across social media platforms and within religious circles, criticizes what Rabiu describes as “vitriolic and dangerously polarizing sermons” being delivered by a segment of Northern preachers. According to him, these messages foster hostility and widen religious fault lines in a region already grappling with insecurity.
“This is not Islam. This is madness.”
Rabiu expressed concern that certain clerics use their pulpits to castigate Christians with derogatory labels, insisting that such narratives contradict Islamic teachings and contribute to the ideological foundations of extremist groups.
“This is not Islam. This is madness. And this madness gave birth to Boko Haram,” he wrote.
He also linked the persistence of extremist ideology to the Almajiri system, arguing that thousands of unsupervised street children remain vulnerable to radicalization.
“An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Those street children begging today will become tomorrow’s recruits and foot soldiers for terror groups,” he warned.
Calls for Legal Reform
In the letter, Rabiu urged the President, the National Assembly, Northern governors, and local government chairmen to pursue sweeping legal and policy reforms aimed at curbing religious radicalization.
His recommendations include:
Criminalizing the use of derogatory religious labels against any Nigerian from the pulpit
Banning child street begging associated with the Almajiri system
Enforcing strict laws against hate speech disguised as religious preaching
Rabiu argued that failure to act could leave Nigeria vulnerable to international scrutiny and isolation. He referenced global security policies that have previously placed Nigeria under watch, stressing that “instead of shouting about Islamophobia, we should examine the reasons foreign nations are concerned.”
A Warning—and a Hope
The retired police chief warned that ignoring religious extremism could expose Nigeria to the same digital and geopolitical pressures that destabilized countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
Nonetheless, he concluded his letter on an optimistic note, expressing confidence that with political will and sincere implementation of reforms, Nigeria could restore the harmony that defined earlier decades.
“If we implement these measures sincerely,” he wrote, “Nigeria will return to the peace we enjoyed in the 70s–90s, when Muslims and Christians shared meals, drank from the same cup, and stood together through life and death.”
Growing National Reaction
Rabiu’s letter has already sparked a wave of reactions across the North, with many clerics, civic groups, and community leaders expected to issue formal responses in the coming days. Observers say the conversation it has triggered may force a broader reckoning with the role of religious discourse in Nigeria’s security landscape.
