John
Owen Nwachukwu
A Kaduna-based Islamic
cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi, has said that the current security
situation was capable of deviding the country.
The Islamic cleric noted
the the clashes between farmers and Fulani herdsmen; members of the Islamic
Movement in Nigeria, IMN and the Nigeria Police, may end Nigeria.
Asked how he would
assess the security situation in the country today, Gumi told Sun:
“I don’t believe so much
in conspiracy theory, these things started long time before the advent of this
administration. The Fulani herdsmen menace and its repercussion, I have seen it
growing slowly before this government came to power.
“It became saturated
because of the economic factor, suddenly the economy came into stagnation, and
the people became desperate. So the economy blew out, and the security
apparatus lacks adequate manpower and instruments to control the situation.
“It was a gradual thing
and the economy bears the main point. You could see children under the age of
15 planning to kidnap, to get what? Money, because poverty is too widespread.
So when you don’t get the economy right, you are going to destroy everything.
“It is not about ethnic
or religious and political affiliation, it is purely economic war, and there is
no religious colouration. In fact, when the herdsmen were attacking people in
Benue and Plateau states, they said it was Islamization. When they attacked
more Muslims in Zamfara, everybody kept quiet. The people in Zamfara State
suffered this more than anybody.”
Asked if he thinks the
long detention of Ibrahim El-zakzaky and Dasuki is justified, he added, “How
can it be justified when the court of law said they should be released? This is
what we are seeing in this government. Government should not use force to break
the law of the land. In fact, they should be released when the law says they
should be released.
“This is part of the
thing we are saying that it is very negative about the constitution. Disobeying
court order in day light. This is a nightmare that will haunt them one day,
they will see the effect, how people will be talking about them. What legacy,
what history does any leader want to keep? El-zakzaky has his own followers,
Dasuki has his own followers.
“Two wrongs do not make
a right, the moment government has mismanaged this thing, it has already turned
them into some form of militancy which we hope, they are restricted, as soon as
possible before they become full-blown insurrections.
“These people are no
more afraid of authority because we have seen video clips where they are
threatening police officers, and that is a sign that something should be done,
otherwise they form their own authority.
“So now, it is left for
Nigerians to say, look, this Nigeria is not for two of you, we have our
children, we have our future, the government cannot mess us up, create another
insurgency when we have one already, simply for not obeying court order.
“So government should
equally address them too, Nigeria is not for you alone, you cannot impose your
religion or creed on the country. Nigeria has to wake up because if we leave
these two, they are all northerners, I know how our psychology is, and nobody
wants to show he is defeated. But it is not a question of defeat, it is a
question of law. Let them obey court order.”
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