President Bola Tinubu’s administration, on Friday, allowed into Nigeria a Saudi Arabian-born Islamic fundamentalist, Sheikh Assim Al Hakeem, who charges Muslims to enslave and kill non-Muslims who refuse to convert to Islam, pay taxation to an Islamic government, and obey the Sharia law worldwide.

The Muslim cleric, a proponent of absolute Sharia who was banned from speaking at United Kingdom’s universities in 2012 over his extremist views, arrived Nigeria on Friday amid uproar against Christian genocide in Africa’s most populous country.

The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), had also generally sought to distance the country from the ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam that Mr Hakeem represents.

In a YouTube video posted on April 1, 2020, which has now garnered 86,993 views, with over 2,800 likes, Mr Hakeem charged Muslims to prepare for the next 40 to 50 years to conquer the world, enslave and kill non-Muslims who refuse to convert to Islam, pay taxes to Islamic government or obey the Sharia law.

Speaking about the different types of Jihad in Islam in the YouTube video, Mr Hakeem said, “The other type of Jihad is the one that everyone is trying to hide. It is the Jihad of pursuing, running after; and this Jihad was in the time of the Prophet, but this Jihad cannot be accomplished, cannot take place unless the state (number) of the Muslims is strong. If we don’t have a strong Muslim country, who can they pursue or attack? Just stay where you are and try to fix yourself, enrich your people with Islamic knowledge, and Iman.”

He further noted that the main reason behind such Jihad is to call non-Muslims to Islam. “It is for Da’wah. Jihad is only for Da’wah, and that is why when Muslims go and conquer the adjacent country, what do we do? We kill them all? No. The prophet says, the first thing you do is to call them to Islam, if they accept it, you leave them, once they’re Muslims, we go, if they refuse, then tell them that ‘Allah obliged upon you to pay taxation’. You have to give us a percentage (Jizyah), and this percentage is given once or twice a year, and it is equivalent to the Zakat (alms giving by Muslims). Jizyah is not taken from women and children; it is only taken from men who work and can produce. And in return, when enemies come and attack your country, you don’t fight; we Muslims will protect you, and you’ll enjoy sitting in your home and your country and live your life normally.

Speaking further, Mr Hakeem noted, “But, the ruling is for Sharia, so you do not open nightclubs, you do not fornicate in the streets, you live your normal lives, but publicly, Islam rules. If they refuse, then we have to fight (demonstrates the slaughter sign); and if we fight you, then we capture you, you’ll become our slaves, and we’ll take your land, because you refused; I [we] give you two good options, this is the strength of Islam.”

He, however, showed his disappointment in the current numerical strength of Muslims worldwide, while declaring that the Jihad could only be possible in about 40 to 50 years, when he believes that Muslims would be in the majority. “Maybe in the coming 40 to 50 years when Muslims become strong, as they’re supposed to be, and they’re focused Islamically, and Islamically-oriented,” he concluded.

Mr Hakeem was invited as a keynote speaker at an event organised by 1Ummah Islamic Organisation, which listed Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote and other prominent Nigerians as its financiers. Nigeria’s former minister of communications and digital economy, Isa Ali Pantami, a Muslim cleric who is known for his extremist views, is also listed as a speaker alongside other Muslim clerics and scholars.

The event was held in Lagos on Friday, 15 and Saturday, 16 November 2025, and another one is set to hold in Abuja on 22 November 2025.

This comes amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to launch kinetic intervention against violent extremists killing Christians in Nigeria.

Mr Trump’s administration designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), claiming that there was an ongoing Christian genocide in Nigeria, which Mr Tinubu’s government has failed to resolve.

Spokesperson for the Presidency, Bayo Onanuga, did not respond to Peoples Gazette’s enquiry over the development on Saturday, as calls and text messages to his phone lines were not answered or responded to.

The State Security Service (SSS) did not also respond to an enquiry sent by our correspondent to the agency’s official public relations telephone line.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Immigration Service, Akinsola Akinlabi, when contacted over the development on Saturday, vowed to respond officially to The Gazette’s enquiry over Mr Hakeem’s entry into Nigeria. However, Mr Akinlabi was yet to respond to our correspondent’s enquiry as of press time.