“We Rejected ₦10 Million, You Collected ₦5,000 To Sell Your Vote”: Ustaz Bn Al-Qasim Exposes How Hunger Is Used As A Weapon To Control Nigerians

Renowned Kaduna-based Islamic scholar, Ustaz Bn Al-Qasim, has accused Nigeria’s political elite of weaponizing poverty as a tool of control, lamenting that while principled leaders reject millions in bribes to save the country, ordinary citizens sell their future for as little as ₦5,000 during elections.

The cleric made the explosive remarks while delivering a sermon at a major conference in Kano State, where he spoke on the state of the nation, economic hardship, and the defeatist mindset crippling collective action.

He explained that corrupt leaders have studied the psychology of the poor and discovered that hunger makes people manipulable.

According to him, hardship is not a failure of policy but a strategy.

“These oppressors have identified our vulnerability. The weakness they discovered is that starving us is one of the primary weapons they use to exploit us,” he said.

He continued, “They have realized that casting us into hardship and misery gives them the leverage to control us. Their objective is to plunge you into turmoil so they can manipulate you as they wish — which is precisely what brought us to where we are today.”

Ustaz Al-Qasim then dissected what he called the second disease killing Nigeria — the “every man for himself” mentality.

He said Nigerians have reached a point where everyone believes the country is irredeemable, so they would rather benefit from its collapse than fight to save it.

This, he argued, breeds a defeatist logic where people justify collecting bribes because everyone else does.

“It has reached a stage in Nigeria where everyone looks on and concludes, ‘Nigeria cannot be fixed. And since it cannot be fixed, let it fall apart,'” he lamented.

“Everyone calculates: ‘Person A is already ruined, Scholar B has accepted the bribe, Person C and D are backing them. So who am I to resist?’ This is the toxic mentality of plaguing the people.”

To counter that hopelessness, the scholar drew from the Quranic story of Ashabul Kahfi — the Companions of the Cave.

His analysis was that change never starts with a crowd, but with one sincere person brave enough to stand.

He noted that tafsir shows the escape plan from the tyrant king was first suggested by just one youth, and others who secretly held the same belief only found courage after he stood.

He quoted the Quranic verse: “Iz qāmū faqālū Rabbunā Rabbus-samāwāti wal-ard, lan nad’uwa min dūnihī ilāhan laqad qulnā izansi shatatā.”

He told the crowd, “Once that single individual stood up, the rest joined him. We need that same mindset. If we cultivate this courage, Nigeria can be transformed.”

But his most emotional point was the painful contradiction between principled leaders and the masses they defended.

With visible frustration, he revealed how reformers routinely turn down life-changing bribes running into millions to protect the country’s future, only for ordinary voters to sell that same future for ₦5,000 on election day.

“What breaks your heart is when you strive to save the nation… someone offers you massive sums of money that could permanently lift you out of poverty, and you refuse it. Yet, the same impoverished citizen you are fighting to guide will sell their vote for a meager ₦6,000!” he said.

He added, “You reject a ₦10 million bribe because you are looking out for their future. Yet, on election day, many among us get bought off for ₦5,000. Poverty will inevitably persist because we refuse to take the righteous path.”

He concluded with a two-pronged warning.

First, to citizens not to be intimidated by the large numbers supporting oppression, reminding them that small sincere groups often defeat large ones.

“Do not be misled by the massive numbers of those backing injustice, because: Kam min fi’atin qalīlatin ghalabat — How many a small company has overcome a large company. Allah does not look at your numbers; He looks at your sincerity,” he said.

Second, to compromise religious scholars who act as government apologists.

He accused some clerics of publicly telling activists to “take it easy, this path is dangerous,” while secretly going behind to collect money from the same oppressors.

“Let them prepare the answers they will give to Allah on the Day of Judgment,” he warned.

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