Nasiru Musa Idris, whose wife is a Moroccan national, has accused Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi of keeping the woman away from him for nearly 11 months amid an ongoing dispute involving the couple.
Speaking to RFI Hausa, Idris alleged that he initially took his young wife to Gumi for counselling after the cleric requested to speak with her. He claimed that following the meeting, his wife stopped responding to his calls.
Idris said he had known Gumi only through the counselling arrangement and accused the cleric of subsequently interfering in his marriage.
He also alleged that the disagreement intensified after Gumi asked him to obtain another marriage certificate from a Sharia Court, despite the couple already possessing marriage documents issued in both Morocco and Nigeria.
According to Idris, he rejected the request but later learned that Gumi had approached the Sharia Court in Malali regarding the issuance of another marriage document.
The husband further accused the cleric of attempting to create a separation between him and his wife. He called on Gumi to respond to police invitations so that the allegations could be properly investigated.
Idris argued that appearing before the authorities would allow Gumi to explain his side of the dispute and clear his name if he had done nothing wrong.
Gumi, however, rejected the allegations and offered a different account of the situation. Speaking to journalists, the cleric said the woman had already left Nigeria and returned to Morocco, where she was living happily with her parents.
Gumi also threatened to take Idris to court over what he described as defamatory allegations.
The cleric’s aide, Nasiru Ayuba, similarly denied that Gumi had kept the woman in his residence. Ayuba claimed that the woman had independently approached the cleric seeking assistance.
The conflicting accounts have left the circumstances surrounding the woman’s whereabouts and the dispute between the couple unclear, with Idris calling for an official investigation while Gumi maintains that the allegations against him are false.
