A viral video shows a prominent cleric refusing to join what he calls a government-backed scheme to weaponize religion for political gain — and calling out the hypocrisy of spending public money while Nigerians suffer.

A prominent northern Imam has gone public with a bombshell refusal — turning down what he describes as an invitation to join a ₦500 billion government-backed operation to rally Islamic scholars and traditional rulers behind President Bola Tinubu's 2027 re-election campaign.

In a video now spreading rapidly across social media, the cleric didn't just decline. He detonated.

Delivering his remarks in Hausa, the Imam said he was directly approached with details of the alleged scheme and rejected it without hesitation — condemning what he called the corrupt weaponization of religion to serve political interests while ordinary Nigerians drown in poverty.

"My responsibility is to God and to speak the truth," he declared, “not to politicians or their money.”

His words were pointed and deliberate: public funds, he argued, belong to the people — not to campaign war chests disguised as community outreach. With schools crumbling and hospitals starved of resources, the audacity of the alleged proposal only deepened his contempt for it.

The video has ignited fierce debate in northern Nigeria, where religious leaders carry enormous moral authority and their political endorsements — or refusals — carry real weight.

As of publication, neither the APC nor the Tinubu administration has issued any response to the allegations.