Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has fired shots at the Senior Special Adviser on Media to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr. Femi Adesina, for calling him a 'bandit lover'.
The cleric has been drawing
controversy since he started campaigning many months ago for the Federal
Government to grant amnesty to bandits and criminal elements terrorizing much
of the northern region of Nigeria.
While appraising the military's
recent offensive against the numerous armed groups in an article published on
Facebook on Thursday, September 9, 2021, Mr Femi Adesina criticized Sheikh
Gumi's position on how to resolve the prolonged menace of the bandits.
Even though he didn't mention the
Islamic religious leader by his name, Adesina directly addressed Gumi’s recent
comments that the military attack on bandits would not work.
Sheikh Gumi then returned the
shots with his own Facebook post on Friday, September 10. He made an argument that
he's more interested in a solution that does not turn the region into a ‘theatre
of war’.
In sheikh Gumi’s words, "You
bootlicker that called me a bandit-lover! I am not one, but my country-lover,
my region-lover, my state-lover, and my people-lover, and humanity-lover.
The Islamic leader also noted
that bandits have already created new ways to escape military bombardments, and
that their family, consisting of women and children are the ones most affected
by the ongoing offensive in Zamfara State.
He said the crisis can only be
solved through proficient policing, honest judiciary, and engagement of the
local herdsmen in policing, rehabilitation, reconciliation, and reparation of
all victims of banditry.
"Money and time well spent
on these will surely kill the disease and heal the nation of this delinquency,
crimes, and bad governance," he added.
Gumi said reconciliation
negotiation with the bandits is not working only because the government is not
committed to a peaceful resolution.
Bandits have left a trail of
blood in the northern region over the past year, killing hundreds and abducting
many more in exchange for ransom.
The Federal Government has been
struggling to contain the wave of violence, and the ethno-religious crisis it
has spawned.
Northern group begs buhari for pardon as prominent former governor
serves 10-year jail sentence
Meanwhile, the Movement for a New
Arewa, a norther coalition group, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to
pardon former Plateau state governor, Joshua Dariye, who is serving a 10-year
jail term over corruption.
Reports say that the group made
the appeal in a press statement released by its national president, Abdulkareem
Bayero, and national secretary, Abdulahi Musa, in Kaduna.
They claimed the likes of Dariye
need to be released from prison if the north was to return to its past glory
and join in the peacebuilding process, The Punch also reported.
The statement says, “Peace can
only be achievable, if the broken and burnt bridges, of friendship, brotherhood
and a healing process by all those who have been hurt, injured and aggrieved,
among the various ethnic nationalities the likes of Hausa Fulani, Tiv, Birom
Gbagyi and others, comes together in a round table to discuss the way forward
and towards finding a lasting solution to addressing prevailing insecurity that
had destroyed the north. “We must strive by all means to foster and forge unity
and peace towards achieving a united north and by extension a united Nigerian
as a people.” Dariye has been in prison since the inception of the present
administration. In March, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction over criminal
breach of trust, which attracted a 10-year jail.
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