In the run up to the 2015 presidential election, Sheikh (Dr.) Ahmad Gumi wrote a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan and retired General Muhammadu Buhari, the then presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), advising them to sacrifice their ambitions in order to avoid a possible crisis. In spite of Gumi’s advice, the duo ran for the presidency and the rest, as they say, is history. Here, we are only reporting the Sheikh’s answer on three issues, the militants, herdsmen and corruption, thanks to Sahara Reporters who published the original interview. Please read on.
In the run up to the 2015 presidential election, Sheikh (Dr.) Ahmad Gumi wrote a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan and retired General Muhammadu Buhari, the then presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), advising them to sacrifice their ambitions in order to avoid a possible crisis. In spite of Gumi’s advice, the duo ran for the presidency and the rest, as they say, is history. Here, we are only reporting the Sheikh’s answer on three issues, the militants, herdsmen and corruption, thanks to Sahara Reporters who published the original interview. Please read on.
If I understand your analysis, are you opposed to the orders given by the President to the military to deal with the militants who blow up pipelines?
How can they deal with the militants in the first place, when they are holding the nation’s umbilical cord? You are fighting Boko Haram in the North, and you want to fight the militants in the creeks. You don’t fight on two fronts at the same time. That was one of the reasons why Adolf Hitler failed in the Second World War. The government should sit down with them and ask them the reasons for their agitation.
Don’t forget; they were embittered that their man Goodluck Jonathan was defeated. Their argument now is, ‘if you hate our man, then leave our oil.’ No section of the country has the solution of Nigeria’s problem.
So, everybody should be brought on board. Even if the South-South brings Government Tompolo as their man, we should accept him, so long as they trust him; so that we will have stability.
A military solution is not the best option in this circumstance. Former President Umaru Yar’adua could swallow his pride as president and negotiate with the militants. Jonathan also did it. But a military man cannot do it because it will hurt his ego. But if he doesn’t do it, he will kill the nation.
The Fulani herdsman has been associated with so many evils in recent times, ranging from cattle rustling, kidnapping, and armed robberies. As a Fulani man, what will you say is responsible for the recent transformation of the herdsman?
It is really unfortunate. I remember, during the Jonathan administration, a soldier came to me. He said that there was an ongoing military operation which was wiping out Fulani communities around Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State. He said that more than 10 communities had been wiped out by the soldiers. I was so agitated that I called a Fulani lieutenant. I also confronted very influential people in government, telling them of the plot to wipe out Fulanis.
The Fulani lieutenant told me that all the kidnappings and the cattle rustling that were being carried out in that community were done by Fulanis. But the Qur’an tells us that when ‘’Fitna’’ (trouble) comes, it will not affect only those who commit the sin or atrocity.
It is unacceptable for the Fulani communities in the bush, to allow their brothers to go out and commit all these crimes and keep quite. Even those that do not engage in them will one day become victims of the reactions of these atrocities. I am calling on the Fulani associations like Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association to sensitise their members on an almost one-on-one basis.
The association should tell them to stop killing and kidnapping people and rustling the cattle of fellow Fulanis. There is no need denying it.
Fulanis are involved in armed robbery and all these crimes that I have mentioned. But the question is, why did the Fulanis start engaging in these crimes? But what do you expect of a population that has been left in the bush without education or social amenities and without government’s assistance of any kind? The so-called Nomadic Education is just on paper. Even religious organisations do not go to preach to them. So, what do you expect from this kind of population?
It has been a time bomb all the while. The government and Miyetti Allah should intervene so that the crisis will not escalate like Boko Haram.
An FM Radio station should be dedicated specifically to addressing the Fulanis because they listen to radio. They should also be given incentives. That is the only way to avert the disaster. But to deny that these atrocities are not being committed by Fulanis is the wrong way to approach the issue. My brother was kidnapped some few months back. When we secured his release, he told us that the kidnappers were asking him to beg Allah for them so that they will be reformed.
Now, they have discovered that kidnapping is a gold mine. Before they used to rustle cattle, and it was so difficult to sell the cows. So, they resorted to the easier crime of kidnapping. Truly, the Fulanis are involved, and it is very unfortunate.
The All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government will be one year in office in about two weeks from now. What is your assessment of President Muhammadu Buhari in office, a man whom you had earlier opposed?
Actually, I was not opposing a particular person. What I feared was a scary scenario. I wasn’t opposing Buhari or Jonathan. I never hated them at all. If anything, I pity them because much as they wanted to correct things, they couldn’t.
What the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, is doing is evil but he believed in what he is doing, and he has given his life to it. Out of all these leaders, nobody is ready to give his life like him but what he is doing is wrong, and he is evil.
So, it is not enough to sacrifice, but you have to do the right thing. So, there must be pragmatism in governance. Interests and alliances should be based on pragmatism. So, I’m not opposed to any politician at all, but I’m concerned about how Nigeria can get out of this problem. I’m very passionate about that. I have children, and I don’t want them to be messed up by someone’s vision of how to run Nigeria, which I know will not work.
It will just bring more hardship to them. To be honest, I want to progress and peace for everybody, and I’m truly concerned about it. I believe that the only way to cure Nigeria is to open a new page completely if not we will continue to be having problems.
We are divided along North/ South lines and along Muslim/Christian lines. There is also the class division between the rich and the poor. We also have tribal differences. It is until when every segment is substantially carried along, that you can have peace and harmony in the country. So long as a big segment of Nigeria feels that it is marginalised, Nigeria will never see peace.
So, in the run-up to the last election, I wrote a letter to President Jonathan not to contest because the North will reject him. I asked him to allow anybody to be the PDP flag bearer but not him because the north will reject him because somehow, he was linked with Boko Haram. I also wrote another letter to Buhari, advising him to rest his ambition because if he runs, Nigeria will be polarised. What Nigeria needed at that time were people who will mend fences.
Buhari’s coming into politics has accentuated the class struggle in Nigeria. The antagonism between the rich and poor can sometimes be more dangerous that religious differences. I saw this class struggle coming because the masses will always rush to Buhari because they believe that he will bring justice and food on the table for them. They want him to emasculate the rich for them; he either does it, or they will categorise him as a failure.
So, once you put a leader in that kind of situation, then you are already introducing a class struggle into the already compounded problem. In addition to our tribal problems, our religious differences, and the North/South divide, there is now a class problem because the talakawa just want to see the rich imprisoned. And if they are tasking the president to do that, and if he does not do it he is a failure, then he will definitely fail because he cannot do it.
So, the kind of leader that we needed at that time was one who will pacify the rich and still have the confidence of the poor. By so doing, the rich will help in building the economy by setting up companies that will generate employment.
That is why the Prophet (SAW) said that you can get with leniency what you can never get by force. He said that when leniency enters anything, it decorates it. And strictness, violence blemishes and destroys the beauty of whatever they enter.
So, what you get with diplomacy, you cannot get with violence. If you want to deal with corruption in Nigeria, you have to deal with it in a diplomatic way. No one should be afraid of returning the money that they have looted. But when the poor is always rating your administration by the number of people you have caught, then you are in trouble because you cannot catch the big ones.
Because if you do so, you will destroy your government and if you don’t catch them, the poor will say that you have changed. The president is even fighting the war on corruption the wrong way. When you fight corruption, it will naturally fight back. Corruption has become an international institution. You will hear foreign leaders condemning corruption, but they are engaging in it because their countries benefit from it.
So, the President needs to tread carefully in fighting corruption with the way things are now because it will frighten the upper class of the society. It will put them on pause, and this is not healthy for a developing economy like our own.
You need the rich to infuse money into the system and fund projects. For example, I went to a fundraiser for an Islamic school. Big men came, but not a single one donated a Kobo, not even a pledge because they may be asked where they got the money from.
So, there is fright, and this is hurtful to the economy. The war on corruption should purely be a law and order issue. Right now, if EFCC invites someone, the next day it is in the newspapers. The damage this kind of thing causes to people’s reputation is very severe, especially if they are found to be innocent.
Source: Sahara Reporter
