Supreme Council For Shari’ah Frown Over One Sided Humanitarian Outreach of the First Lady

THE NEED FOR EQUITY, JUSTICE, AND BALANCE IN THE HUMANITARIAN OUTREACH OF THE FIRST LADY

Press Release

The Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN), as the umbrella Islamic body dedicated to the defence of the rights and interests of the Muslim Ummah, finds it necessary to address a growing and deeply troubling pattern in the humanitarian activities of Her Excellency, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

While the office of the First Lady is not a constitutional one, it remains a highly visible moral and humanitarian platform. How it is used sends powerful signals to Nigerians across ethnic and religious lines. Unfortunately, recent actions have raised the perception that this platform is being tilted towards selective religious and political constituencies, in a manner that is neither fair nor reflective of the diverse fabric of the nation.

We begin by acknowledging the recent donation made to the victims of the Mokwa flood disaster in Niger State. We welcome the fact that Her Excellency deemed it necessary to visit and offer some measure of relief to our people in their time of need. We recognise that any act of kindness to fellow citizens in distress is a noble gesture worthy of appreciation. However, the magnitude of the disaster, the scale of displacement, and the economic devastation caused by the floods make it clear that the relief came rather too late.

It is important to recall the political journey that brought President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to office. At a time when the Muslim-Muslim ticket was under intense attack, it was the Muslim Ummah in the North and in the South-West that stood firmly in defence of that ticket. We mobilised. We voted in overwhelming numbers. We protected the legitimacy of the ticket from hostile narratives. That political solidarity was not a small matter; it was the bedrock of the President’s victory. On the other hand, many Christian constituencies, including Her Excellency’s own denomination, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), not only withheld their support but in many cases actively opposed the ticket. In several Christian- majority states, the vote for APC was negligible. In the days and weeks following the victory, prominent Christian groups did not acknowledge, let alone celebrate, the outcome of the election. This history should not be ignored when considering the balance and fairness of the First Lady’s outreach.

Since assuming her role, Her Excellency’s Renewed Hope Initiative has rolled out a series of high-profile donations and empowerment programmes. A disturbing trend is that many of these have been directed overwhelmingly towards Christian communities, often in symbolic and publicised ways. In September 2023, ₦500 million was given to families in Plateau State, with the beneficiaries drawn largely from Christian-dominated communities. In December 2024, under the guise of Christmas palliatives, ₦5 million cash and 1,200 bags of rice were distributed in each of the 19 northern states exclusively through the Northern Nigeria Christian Political Forum (CNNPF), a political and religious bloc that did not play any measurable role in the electoral success of the Tinubu/Shettima ticket. Additional targeted donations followed 1,000 bags of rice to the Christian community in Bauchi, another 1,000 bags to the CNNPF in Kogi, and further empowerment packages channelled almost entirely through Christian political and church-based structures.

In July 2025, ₦1 billion and truckloads of relief materials were donated to communities in Plateau State and Yelewata in Benue, both events framed in ways that highlighted and benefited Christian-majority areas. These interventions were not matched by any equivalent gesture to Muslim-majority communities suffering simultaneous or even worse tragedies.

During the same period, the First Lady has not been seen to extend a comparable hand to Muslim victims of serious calamities. When passenger boats capsized in Niger and Kwara States, claiming scores of Muslim lives, there was no high-profile visit, no substantial relief intervention. The persistent killings in Zamfara and Katsina, targeting Muslim villages and markets have not attracted her public condolence or material support. The recent killing of Muslim travellers in Jos passed without any statement from her office. For many in the Ummah, the silence in these moments is both painful and telling.

We have seen this trajectory before. History teaches that selective humanitarianism from the nation’s First Lady can become a political liability. During the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the then First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, became publicly associated with a perceived sectional bias in her engagements. That perception became part of the narrative that alienated large parts of the country from the presidency. Her Excellency, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, stands today at a similar crossroads. The choice before her is simple: to use her platform to unite Nigerians through fair, balanced, and inclusive humanitarian outreach, or to deepen the dangerous perception that the Office of the First Lady is an exclusive channel for favoured religious and political groups.

We therefore call upon Her Excellency to take deliberate steps to address this imbalance. The Muslim Ummah is not asking for favour or special privilege, we are asking for justice, fairness, and recognition of our equal place in the Nigerian federation. When our communities suffer, when our people are displaced, when tragedy strikes in our towns and villages, we expect the same empathy, the same visibility, and the same material relief that is extended elsewhere.

The Renewed Hope Initiative carries a noble name. But hope cannot be truly renewed if it is perceived as selective. Compassion loses its moral power when it appears to follow political loyalties or religious lines. The SCSN urges Her Excellency to rise above the pull of partisan and sectarian instincts, and to embrace the whole nation with equal warmth. That is what leadership demands, that is what history will remember, and that is what justice requires.

Nafiu Baba-Ahmad, mni

Secretary General

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