The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Tuesday, challenged the Federal Government to immediately arrest fiery Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmed Gumi.
The CAN also contended that security agencies should begin to investigate the claim made by the Islamic scholar that declaring bandits as terrorists by the government would come with a price.
Recall that Gumi had in a Facebook post warned that foreign jihadists would come into the country should Nigeria insist on branding the bandits behind the country’s insecurity as agents of terror.
Reacting, CAN’s Director of National Issues and Social Welfare, Bishop Stephen Adegbite, said, “The Federal Government appears to be treating Sheikh Ahmed Gumi with kid gloves.
“It’s unfortunate and we are worried, disappointed, and pained that he would make such a bold statement unchallenged.
“But the Church will no longer keep silent. Enough is enough. We will take him up word-for-word henceforth.
“The Federal Government should do the needful and arrest him. Is Gumi the owner of Nigeria?
“What effrontery has him to challenge the verdict of the people that the bandits are the enemies seeking to destroy our nation?
“Someone must call him to order. He must stop making threats to Nigerians and Nigeria. Gumi should be behind bars.”
But in his reaction, Gumi slammed those urging the federal government to arrest him because of the meetings he holds with bandits, describing them as clowns.
Gumi, who revealed yesterday that government officials also attend meetings with bandits, said he was not the first to hold dialogue with bandits.
He said, “Even the Kaduna State governor dialogued with them, Zamfara governor dialogued with them.
“I’m not the first person that started dialoguing with them (bandits). I only added value, and I find them to be religious; religion is the only thing that teaches you that blood has sanctity. So this is the religious angle.
“I’m trying to gather them and teach them that there is sanctity to life. They cannot kill, rape and so on. This is the addition I hope will work. Note, I never visited these bandits without a government official, but they are in the background.
“All the bandits we met were with government officials, and that is why I said those calling for my arrest are clowns.”
Noting that his dialogue with the bandits had started yielding positive results, Gumi said: “My interaction with bandits has yielded instant results. When you are dealing with somebody engrossed in criminality, if you approach him as a policeman, you will have a problem but if you come to him as a pastor, he will confess all his sins.
“So we approach them as clergy, and they feel comfortable to vomit all their problems, hence we see how we can appease and help them.
“We are not approaching them as an authority but from the spiritual angle. You know every human being has that spiritual influence, and that is why we are adopting that.’’