Sheikh Gumi’s incendiary outburst

RECENTLY, a Kaduna State-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, set the polity on edge, accusing the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration of committing the unpardonable sin of making a Nigerian of southern origin and immediate past governor of Rivers State, Barrister Nyesom Wike, the the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Gumi stated this in a 14-minute sermon posted on his Meta page. His grouse was that Wike, whom he characterised as Satan, had hosted the Israel Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, in his office on October 3, shortly before the outbreak of war between Hamas and the State of Israel in the Gaza Strip. The visit, he alleged, would lead to the elimination of Islamic clerics in Nigeria. In the same vein, Gumi condemned the appointment of Christians into leadership positions in the military, saying that Christians are treacherous and should not be entrusted with such sensitive positions. According to him, there is no basis for Muslims to trust Christian officers to protect them. He further accused “Christian officers” of murdering the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello; former Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and ex-Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed, throwing this challenge: “Tell me which Christian leader was killed by Muslims.”

Gumi added: “Obviously, the military is behind all the terror attacks we’ve witnessed so far. They attacked Jaji to stop General Isa from becoming the Chief of Army Staff. Indeed, it was the military that murdered him. And make no mistakes: some of us are targets also. I’m saying all this so no one can fool you. Don’t be fooled by the politicians because all the politicians care about is dollars; they don’t care about the plight of the people. Again, let me repeat, as I said earlier, I replied to the Christian cleric that where Muslim officers dominate all the security services, they don’t perpetrate injustice like the Christian officers, who murdered Sardauna, Tafawa Balewa, Murtala, etc… They kept blabbing about (former President Muhammadu) Buhari’s so-called nepotism. There was an element of nepotism under Buhari, I reckon. But our (Muslim) nepotism is not evil (wicked) because it does no harm to anyone.”

It is beyond shocking that more than a week after Gumi, a well-known advocate for the herders who have given Nigeria a prominent spot on the Global Terrorism Index, made his criminally inciting statement capable of throwing the country into an ethno-religious conflagration, he has not been picked up by the security agencies. This is, to say the least, a tragedy, because the security agencies are known to have arrested suspects whose declarations did not come anywhere close to the horrific, warmongering outburst that Gumi made in defiance of the Nigerian State. To all intents and purposes, Gumi aimed to excite negative passions and cause ethnic and religious strife. He alleged, without evidence, that the Army officers who killed the first Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and the then Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa, during the First Republic did so on behalf of Christianity, and compartmentalised the military into Islamic and Christian factions, calling on Muslims to rise against Christians and on northerners to rise against southerners. Gumi must of course have heard of the officers who eliminated Nigeria’s first Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi, and who never pleaded religious faith as the basis for their action.

Given the implications of Gumi’s incendiary outburst, it is no surprise that many ethnic, religious and professional associations have condemned his outburst, calling on the security agencies to arrest him, but he remains a free man, fanning the embers of discord and scoffing at the laws of the land. If, as Gumi suggests, the FCT is the exclusive preserve of Nigerians of northern origin, why does the law characterise the territory as the preserve of all Nigerians? Just how can the aberration of northern domination of FCT leadership for decades amount to a justification for the continued exclusion of southerners from its leadership? Is Gumi suggesting that Nigerians of southern origin are subhuman species doomed perpetually to inferiority in the FCT, nay Nigerian project?

We ask again: Is Gumi above the law? Why is he being given the latitude to continue dampening the morale of the officers and men in the trenches who are giving their all to rid the country of terrorism? If Gumi, in his utterly warped mindset, does not think that northerners should trust southerners, just why should southerners trust northerners? We recognise the import of Gumi’s assault on the secularity of the Nigerian State, namely to throw the country into utter chaos, and we call on the authorities to stop him in his tracks before he does further damage. This is not the first time Gumi has made volatile statements; he should not be allowed to set the country on fire. Nigeria is a secular state and, as such, all religions and their adherents must be respected. Whether Gumi likes Christians/southerners or not, they are Nigerians and Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians who are all equal stakeholders.

Gumi’s vituperation is yet another sign, if any were needed, that the country no longer runs on the basis of clear values and regulations to which everyone is bound. How can a cleric be peddling religious accusations and innuendos in a secular and multi-religious country? Apparently, Gumi reckoned that his warmongering rhetoric would be permitted under the lawlessness that is creeping on the country. His unguarded utterances and their potential to push the country into an avoidable cauldron should sensitise all, and in particular the government, to urgently work hard to reestablish order and some sense of regulation to guide behaviour.

All Nigerians must accept that the country belongs to all without any religion or ethnic group being special or inferior, and talking down on any religion or ethnic group in order to ignite confusion and confrontation must never be permitted. The government must demonstrate that it is in charge of this situation and must send serious signals about its preparedness to henceforth put down the resort to religious and ethnic baiting in the country. This is the urgent responsibility emerging from Sheikh Gumi’s outburst.

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