Oyedepo Dismisses Claims Nigeria Is an Islamic Nation, Fires Back at Sheikh Jingir
Bishop David Oyedepo, founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, popularly known as Winners Chapel, has dismissed suggestions that Nigeria is an Islamic nation, firing back at recent comments credited to Islamic cleric Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir amid an escalating national debate over religion and politics.
Speaking during a Sunday service, Oyedepo rejected the notion outright, insisting that anyone who holds such a belief must be out of their senses. Pointing to the scale and visibility of major Christian congregations across the country, the bishop argued that the reach of ministries such as Redemption Camp, Salvation Ministries, and Dunamis undercut any claim that Nigeria could be classified as an Islamic state. He questioned how such a claim could be made given the size of crowds regularly seen across various churches nationwide.
Beyond the religious identity debate, Oyedepo also issued a cryptic remark during the same service, telling his congregation to expect strange happenings in Nigeria over the coming twelve months, without offering further explanation of what he meant by the statement.
The bishop’s comments come in direct response to remarks attributed to Sheikh Jingir, Chairman of the Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS), popularly known as Izala, who had spoken in support of President Bola Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket at a mass wedding organized by the Kano State Government for 1,500 couples earlier in the month. During the event, Jingir declared his support for Tinubu’s re-election bid alongside Vice President Kashim Shettima, and reportedly suggested that Nigeria belongs to Muslims on account of their numerical strength in the country, a claim that stirred anger among Christian groups and some Muslims alike.
The remarks quickly triggered widespread condemnation, with critics accusing the cleric of promoting religious division ahead of the 2027 general election. The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Tony Ojukwu, had previously called for Jingir’s investigation and prosecution over what he described as hate speech and incitement. Jingir has, however, continued to defend his position in subsequent public statements, insisting his remarks were not intended to be inflammatory and that he was merely exercising his right as a religious leader to guide his followers on matters he considers important.
Oyedepo’s intervention adds another prominent religious voice to what has become an increasingly sensitive national conversation on religion, political representation, and national identity, as political activities ahead of the 2027 election continue to intensify. The Muslim-Muslim ticket arrangement adopted by Tinubu and Shettima in 2023, the first of its kind since the 1993 pairing of Chief MKO Abiola and Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, has remained a recurring flashpoint in Nigerian politics since it was first introduced.
As the country edges closer to the 2027 polls, the exchange between the two religious leaders underscores the persistent difficulty of navigating faith-based sensitivities in a nation almost evenly divided between Christian and Muslim populations, with observers cautioning that such rhetoric could further deepen existing societal fault lines if left unchecked.
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