* Urges Senator Remi Tinubu to embrace all Nigerians with equal warmth
* Says “Hope cannot be renewed when it appears selective”
The Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN) has accused Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, of using her office to unfairly favour the Christian community at the expense of other demographies, especially the Muslims who constitute a major bloc in the country.
In a statement titled ‘The Need for Equity, Justice, and Balance in the Humanitarian Outreach of the First Lady’ and signed by its Secretary-General, Nafiu Baba-Ahmed, the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria, a prominent Islamic body comprising Muslim scholars, leaders and stakeholders in both the Southern and Northern parts of the country, urged the First Lady to immediately address the growing perception of religious favouritism in her humanitarian outreach.
Pointing to the name of her intervention, The Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), SCSN emphasised that hope cannot be renewed when it is perceived to be selective and pandering to specific political loyalties and religious lines.
“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,” the statement read.
SCSN said since assuming her role, the First Lady’s Renewed Hope Initiative has rolled out a series of high-profile donations and empowerment programmes, adding that a disturbing trend is that many of these interventions were 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,” the Council stated.
“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.”
The Council under the leadership of her President, Sheikh Dr Bashir Aliyu Umar and Vice President, Sheikh Isa Akindele said First Lady Oluremi Tinubu was not seen extending a comparable support to Muslim victims of serious calamities during the same period.
“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,” according to the statement.
The Islamic group recalled the political journey that led to the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, noting his Muslim-Muslim ticket came under intense attacks, and it was the Muslim Ummah in the North and in the South-West that stood firmly in defence of the 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.”
SCSN, meanwhile, acknowledged the recent donation made to the victims of the Mokwa flood disaster in Niger State by the First Lady.
“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 added.
SCSN warned that the current trajectory of Senator Oluremi Tinubu has been witnessed during the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. “History teaches that selective humanitarianism from the nation’s First Lady can become a political liability,” it added.
“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.”
SCSN urged Senator Tinubu to take deliberate steps to address the imbalance, emphasising that the Muslim Ummah is not asking for special privilege but justice, fairness, and recognition of its 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 group stressed.
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