Saudi authorities detained Sheikh Ahmad Gumi for six months

In 2010, Saudi authorities detained Sheikh Ahmad Gumi for six months over alleged links and reported email correspondence with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, infamously known as the “underwear bomber.”

Abdulmutallab, a young Nigerian who became radicalized and later aligned with extremist groups, was reported to have had contact with Gumi shortly before his failed attempt to detonate plastic explosives concealed in his underwear aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, traveling from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 25, 2009.

Following his arrest, Abdulmutallab admitted in court that he had traveled to Yemen, where he was further radicalized. On February 16, 2012, he was convicted of terrorism and sentenced to four life terms plus 50 years without the possibility of parole, stating that his actions were motivated by what he described as U.S. tyranny and oppression of Muslims in the Middle East.

Reports indicate that it took diplomatic intervention by the Goodluck Jonathan administration for Saudi authorities to release and deport Gumi back to Nigeria after his detention.
In May 2025, Saudi authorities once again barred Gumi from participating in the Hajj pilgrimage and deported him to Nigeria, marking his first return to the Kingdom since his 2010 deportation.
Against this backdrop, Gumi’s repeated rhetoric that appears to downplay or romanticize terrorist actors in Nigeria should not come as a surprise. His past has long been shadowed by controversial associations and alleged “cordial relationships” with internationally recognized terrorists.
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