Dr. Ahmad Gumi, fearless cleric and son of the late famous Sheik
Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi, today kicked against amnesty for the Boko Haram sect as
has been proposed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III
and several prominent Nigerians, saying they ought to be crushed.
Gumi
who once escaped being killed by some suspected terrorists, made the remarks in
a sermon monitored in our New York office from his social media network.
In
it, Gumi declared that were Prophet Mohammed himself to be alive today, he
would personally have led the way in exterminating the sect.
“Every
individual in this nation is concerned about the future,” he stressed. “Nigeria
is catalytically deteriorating. Today the national discourse is on corruption
and amnesty for terrorism.”
He
noted that many people have missed the crux of the matter. “Corruption is
incurable, it is only suppressed. That is by genuine ethics/faith illumination
campaigns like the ethical revolution, War Against Indiscipline, Re-brand
Nigeria etc. and ...an effective system of accountability (i.e. checks and
balances) or what can be summed up as good governance.”
Turning
to the Boko Haram insurgency, he described it as hypocritical, pointing out
that as an ideology, Boko Haram respects no law, the Quran or Hadith or
Scholarly fatwa. “They have their own interpretation, anything short of that is
part of the enemy that should be killed. So on what basis should there be
dialogue or amnesty? It is a creed that must be crushed; it is a
creed the prophet – alaihis Salam- wished he is alive to exterminate."
Sheik
Gumi regretted that the present dispensation in Nigeria lacks the moral high
ground to defeat the militants, otherwise that objective would already have
been achieved. In that regard, he pointed out that more innocent people
have been killed, maimed, tortured and incarcerated by the JTF in the name of
fighting Boko Haram than by Boko Haram itself or those camouflaging behind
them. “A whole region is made to suffer economically, socially and politically
because of this blind war on terror. The present dispensation has everything to
gain in refusing the 'amnesty' call for political reasons; that is why it is
recalcitrant. Otherwise, if the need to crush Boko Haram is genuine, it would
have been achieved since.”
Instead,
he called for a “selected Muslim high-ranking officer” of the armed forces take
charge of the whole ‘operation’ from investigations to incursions, arguing that
the situation requires careful excision and only someone who feels the pains of
society has the capacity can carry it out.
“Like
removing a tumor from the brain, you don't give that to an orthopedic surgeon,
no matter how good, to do that. It is an operation of precision not brute
force. This choice of tackling a peculiar problem is the sign of good
governance. Special missions have special requirements if success is the
objective.”
Sheik
Gumi pointed out that Boko Haram consists of armed individuals hiding in a
civilian population.
“They
do not control any high fire power to be engaged in a war,” he said.
“Therefore
there is absolutely no need whatsoever to deploy and ultimately exhaust the
military in road blocks all over the spheres of their activities. What are
needed are very good intelligence, special strike squads and the genuine
cooperation of the civilian population which can never be achieved through
intimidation.”
He
warned that because the issue is being tackled with “the impulses of vengeance
and retaliation” as is currently the case,the entire saga is gradually turning
into another thing all together.
“This
is what makes the future bleak and frightening,” he stressed.
Source: Sahara Reporters
No comments:
Post a Comment