Former Kaduna Central Senator Shehu Sani has identified speaking against extremism, advocating inter-religious tolerance and peace, and openly naming terrorist leaders and groups as three common factors he believes contributed to the assassination of prominent clerics in Northern Nigeria. Sani made the claims in a post on his X handle on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.
Sani’s post recalled the broader pattern of attacks against religious figures in Northern Nigeria. Among the clerics previously associated with speaking against extremist teachings were Sheikh Jaafar Adam, who was killed in Kano in 2007; Sheikh Imam Ahmed, who was killed in Borno in 2011; and Sheikh Awwal Albani, who was killed in Zaria in 2014.
According to the former lawmaker, prominent clerics assassinated in the region over the past fifteen years shared three characteristics that, in his view, placed them at risk.
“All the prominent clerics that have been assassinated in the North in the last fifteen years have THREE common factors that undoubtedly led to their elimination; SPEAKING out against extremism, ADVOCATING for inter religious tolerance and peace and MENTIONING the name of terror leaders or groups by their name in their sermons,” he wrote.
The former senator also recounted an incident in 2011 when he travelled privately to Maiduguri alongside former President Olusegun Obasanjo. “In 2011, Ex President Obasanjo and myself privately went to Maiduguri to initiate a dialogue for peace, after the event we headed back to Abuja; the next day, the man who facilitated the dialogue was eliminated, and we received threats,” he stated.
He added that the threats conveyed a warning from terrorists against those involved in efforts to promote dialogue and challenge their activities. “The terrorists want silence or they will silence,” Sani wrote.
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