A Kaduna-based businessman, Nasiru Musa Idris, has accused outspoken Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi of holding onto his Moroccan wife for nearly a year after he took her to the scholar’s residence for counselling.
Idris, who made the allegations in an interview with RFI Hausa, said he has been separated from his wife, Khadija Diab, since September 2025, when he left her in Gumi’s care.
“I believe in him because of his character as a religious scholar and leader,” Idris said, explaining why he initially trusted the cleric.
He recalled meeting Gumi at a pharmacy along Isa Kaita Road with his family, where the scholar expressed interest in counselling his wife over complaints she had reportedly made about their marriage.
The businessman said he married Khadija, a Moroccan national, in October 2024 after travelling to Morocco to formally seek her hand. According to him, the union was conducted with the consent of her parents and involved relevant authorities, including the Nigerian embassy.
“For 11 months now, my wife has been in his hands through injustice and ill-treatment. He has no relationship with her; she had never known him. The only place they knew each other was through me”, Idris alleged.
Idris further claimed that the dispute intensified when Gumi questioned the validity of his marriage documents and insisted he obtain a fresh certificate from a Sharia Court. The businessman said he refused, arguing that his papers from Morocco and the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs were sufficient.
“I told him that I did not agree with the marriage certificate he told me to obtain,” Idris said. “Later, he went to the Sharia Court in Malali and asked them to issue one to him.”
The matter has since moved to the courts, with legal filings in Kaduna reportedly including allegations of wrongful restraint, interference in his marriage, theft, and defamation.
Named among the defendants are members of Gumi’s family, including his Moroccan-born wife, Amal Ahmad Gumi, to whom Idris said he had initially introduced Khadija because of their shared nationality.
Idris also alleged that Gumi was invited by authorities for questioning but failed to appear.
“My complaint is that he should come forward and answer the invitation of the police so that an investigation can be conducted,” Idris said. “If he is right, there is nothing stopping him from going to the authorities to clear his name.”
But Gumi has firmly rejected the businessman’s account. In a response to Weekend Trust, the cleric dismissed the allegations and threatened to sue Idris for defamation.
“As for the issue of the girl, she has already left Nigeria and she is in Morocco happily with her parents,” Gumi said. He declined to provide further details, citing the ongoing court case.
His aide, Malam Nasiru Ayuba, chairman of the Volunteers of Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna and Gumi’s personal assistant on special assignment, also pushed back against Idris’s version of events.
“The allegation that Malam kept his wife in his house is not true,” Ayuba said. “It was the woman herself who went to Malam to ask him for help.”
Ayuba accused Idris of attempting to damage Gumi’s reputation through allegations circulated on social media.
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