Popular Bauchi cleric, Idris Abdulaziz, is dead

Idris Abdulaziz, a popular Bauchi Islamic cleric, is dead.

His centre, the Dutsen Tanshi Majlis, announced his demise in a statement posted on its Facebook page late Thursday.

The centre announced the funeral prayer of the cleric for Friday morning at the Games Village, Bauchi.

The cause of his death was not disclosed, but he was bedridden throughout the month of Ramadan while his students presided over lectures at the centre.

He was the founder of Dutsen Tanshi Majlis Bauchi – an Islamic centre known for propagation of Sunnah, situated in the Bauchi metropolis.

He frequently presided over lectures at the centre, which attract thousands of in-person listeners and live streamers across Hausa speaking Northern Nigeria.

PREMIUM TIMES reported last April how he fled into exile amid a feud with Governor Bala Muhammad, and his subsequent return home after the intervention of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.

Mr Abdulaziz fled Bauchi after security agents raided his Dutsen Tanshi residence on 24 January last year to execute a search warrant.

He had a running battle with Governor Muhammad whom he openly campaigned against. He supported Mr Muhammad’s main opponent, Abubakar Sadiq of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the 18 March 2023 election.

He fled the state alleging persecution, threat of arbitrary arrest and detention by the state government following charges accusing him of blasphemy against religious creed.

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Mr Abdulaziz’s Sunni’s preaching and opinions are considered stern by followers of some Islamic sects in Hausa-speaking northern Nigeria. His ordeal with the Bauchi State Government began when he criticised some Sufi scholars of the Tijjaniyya Islamic sects during a lecture.

“In difficult times I don’t need the support of Ibrahim Niase, Abdulkadir Jelani, Ahmad Tijjani (Sufi scholars), and even Prophet Muhammad except for Allah,” Mr Abdulaziz said in the lecture on the oneness of God.

The comments ignited a controversy in Bauchi State and beyond. While his brethren in the Sunni sect supported him, his rivals from the Sufi sect called for his prosecution, accusing him of disrespecting a religious creed. The state government subsequently took over the case and prosecuted him.