Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has criticised politicians who displayed opulence during the wedding of Yusuf Buhari, son of President Muhammadu Buhari, in Kano State on Friday, August 20.

Yusuf married Zarah Bayero, daughter of emir of Bichi Nasiru Ado-Bayero, in a glamorous ceremony.

Dignitaries at the event included Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, current and former governors, traditional rulers, and other prominent personalities from within and outside the country.

Reports say a bride price of N500,000 (around $1,200) was paid to the bride’s family by the groom.

Many of the attendees arrived in Kano for the wedding in private jets. Fleets of the jets were seen parked on the runway of the Kano airport, sparking outrage on social media.

Teaching at the Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna the weekend after the wedding, Gumi faulted the politicians for hiring private jets to attend the wedding.

He said the leaders, just like bandits, milk Nigerians to live large, wondering where they got all the money they displayed at the wedding.

“Somebody told me private jets in Nigeria were all hired for the wedding of Buhari’s son.

“Some people are in captivity in the bushes and cities. Hunger is everywhere. People are facing all manner of problems, yet politicians spent public funds on private jets,” said Gumi.

The cleric has been at the centre of efforts to negotiate with bandits terrorising the northern part of the country. According to him, bandits take arms because of poverty.

Health bodies in Nigeria also expressed concern over the mass gathering at the president’s son’s wedding following the recent spike in Covid infections in the country, weeks after the highly contagious Delta variant was detected.

“It was President Buhari who signed the law that made it punishable for anybody not to obey COVID-19 protocols, yet it is the cream of his officials who are not making use of facemasks and are not observing social distancing,” spokesman of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) Olumide Akintayo said.

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