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Tag: Sheik Ahmad Gumi

  • Keeping Mamu in Detention is Terrorism, Charge him to Court – Gumi to DSS

    Keeping Mamu in Detention is Terrorism, Charge him to Court – Gumi to DSS

    Ahmad Gumi, a Kaduna-based Islamic scholar, has asked the Department of State Services (DSS) to either charge Tukur Mamu, publisher of Desert Herald, to a court or release him from detention.

    Mamu, an aide to Ahmad Gumi, a popular Islamic cleric, negotiated the release of persons abducted on a train to Kaduna in March 2022.

    According to Daily Trust, Gumi said this during his weekly preaching at Sultan Bello Mosque on Saturday.

    The cleric implored the secret service to take the publisher to court to face trial, adding that keeping him in custody is intimidating to his family.

    “Take him to court to face trial. Keeping him in custody despite being a family man was just to intimidate him. This intimidation is also terrorism. Arresting people unjustly is also terrorism; just like the terrorists do by going to somebody’s house to kidnap him,” Daily Trust quoted Gumi as saying.

    “How can we continue in this situation under a government that is about to wind up? Our hope is for them to finish successfully not in a bad light. It’s not about Tukur Mamu, you all know that whenever they arrest innocent people, I always talk, not to talk of someone that I know and I’m only advising the government to release him so that we can apologize to him to forget what happened.”

    On Wednesday, Mamu was arrested at the Kano international airport after he returned from Egypt, where he was detained on his way to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj.

    On Thursday, the DSS said security operatives found incriminating materials like military accoutrements and large amounts of different currencies in Mamu’s house and office.

    In a statement published in Desert Herald, his family said the military accoutrements belong to Mamu’s nephew, who passed out from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in 2019.

  • Deborah: Prophet Muhammad didn’t kill anyone for insulting him – Sheikh Gumi

    Deborah: Prophet Muhammad didn’t kill anyone for insulting him – Sheikh Gumi

    Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi has joined the conversation of death for blasphemy, saying that Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (SAW), did not at anytime kill anyone despite the fact that he was insulted severally.

    Gumi said this while conducting a religious teaching class in his Kaduna Juma’at mosque, according to reports.

    In a video clip obtained and translated by PRNigeria, Gumi said the prophet’s refusal to avenge the insults non-Muslims were raining on him while he was alive, was because he did not want to be regarded or tagged a killer.

    His statement was a reaction to the recent lynching of Deborah Samuel, a female Christian student at Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, over alleged blasphemy.

    He said: “Anyone who kills a non-Muslim who they have agreed to live peacefully with, will not smell the fragrance of Paradise for 40 years.

    “If we think by killing Deborah, people who are not of the same faith with us will stop insulting our prophet, then we are in delusion,” he concluded.

  • Insecurity: Army, police officers aiding bandits with weapons, drugs – Gumi insists

    Insecurity: Army, police officers aiding bandits with weapons, drugs – Gumi insists

    Controversial Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, on Thursday, insisted that some police and Army officers are aiding banditry in Nigeria.

    Gumi alleged that some security operatives are selling weapons to bandits and also into drugs distribution.

    Speaking exclusively, the Islamic scholar urged the Army and the police hierarchy to identify and flush out the bad eggs.

    He also claimed that some security agents aided the bandits by collecting bribe from them.

    According to Gumi: “I know we have bad elements in the security and I think it’s high time that those found to be taking bribe, aiding banditry by selling weapons should be flushed out of the security system.

    “Actually in Zamfara, there are some bad elements in the security but not all of them. A few percentage in our security are using the privilege advantage they have to aide bandits in gun running, drug distributions.

    “So, I’m calling on the military and the police to reign in on their men and flush out the bad ones.”

    Recall that Gumi had accused the military of colluding with bandits in their operations.

    But, the Nigerian Army had dismissed such claim by Gumi.

    Lately, the activities of banditry has been on the rise across the country.

    Bandits have been attacking, abducting and killing students in the Northern part of the country.

    Recall we had reported that some bandits abducted students and teachers of the Federal Government College in Birnin-Yauri, Kebbi State.

    The bandits killed a police officer before whisking the four staff and an unspecified number of students to an unknown location.

    One of the students abducted from the school was shot dead during a gun duel between soldiers and the abductors.

    But, the Nigerian Army had disclosed that five of the abducted students and two teachers of the college have been rescued.

  • Nigerian Army: Sheik Ahmad Gumi say Nigerian Army no understand him well

    Nigerian Army: Sheik Ahmad Gumi say Nigerian Army no understand him well

    Popular Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmed Gumi, has clarified that the religious bias in the Nigerian Army was between 2010 and 2015.

    He explained that his earlier comments were misunderstood, blaming media reports for the misunderstanding.

    The retired general noted that he had a good understanding of the Nigerian Army, adding that many things have not changed since he left the force.

    In a clip, the islamic scholar was seen telling the bandits that soldiers are divided into Muslims and non-Muslims.

    But the Nigerian Army cautioned Gumi against making divisive and disparaging utterances against the military institutions.

    The army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Yerima, while reacting to the video, said the army did not deploy its troops along ethnic or religious lines as stated by the cleric during his interaction with bandits.

    Yerima in his statement on Monday titled, ‘Nigerian Army does not deploy its troops along ethnic or religious lines,’ admonished the cleric and other “opinion merchants” to exercise restraint and not drag the image and reputation of “one of the most reliable national institutions to disrepute.”

    “I saw the Army’s response. What I will say is that there is a misunderstanding in the issues. When I speak about the religious issue in the Army, I am not referring to today’s Army.

    “The issue is from 2010-2015 when some people were in-charge and a lot of bad things happened.

    “It is during that time that there were bombings everywhere. It happened in Jaji and we lost a popular Muslim general. Even, I was saved by God because they planted a bomb for me,” Gumi told BBC while reacting to the Army’s response.

  • Journalists are criminal reckless – Sheik Ahmad Gumi

    Journalists are criminal reckless – Sheik Ahmad Gumi

    The International Press Centre has dismissed the recent comment of Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, that journalists are criminals as reckless.

    Its Executive Director Lanre Arogundade said Gumi was setting a bad precedent with the comment.

    He spoke on Arise TV The Morning Show monitored by The Nation on Monday.

    The Nation had reported that Gumi described journalists as “criminals” for their consistent reporting of the activities of bandits and describing the outlaws as criminals.

     

    He had said: “You are emphasising on criminality, I don’t know. Even the Press (journalists) are criminals too because they are putting oil into fire. These people are listening to you, don’t address them as criminals if you want them to succumb,” Sheikh Gumi said.

     

    But Arogundade, while responding on why journalists have suddenly become the target of other people’s frustration, said: “Journalists are on the spot… first and foremost, there is a failure of leadership and my feeling is that, attempt is being made to blackmail the media to make it look like the media is ab initio the creator of the crisis or series of crises we have in the country.

    “We might raise questions about our reporting but to make it look as if the media sat somewhere and created all these would be something that is totally out of place.

    “This media bashing must stop…The media didn’t create these crises. Instead of solving these problems, all we have are statements from elected leaders of the country that are capable of further inflaming…

    “One needs to totally condemn the statement of Sheikh Gumi saying journalists are criminals. I think he needs to re-substantiate this; he needs to be taken to chart over this reckless statement… It is a dangerous precedent, and a bad one and we demand a retraction.”

    “On the other hand, it is also unimaginable that someone would wake up and say we should stop referring to bandits as ‘criminals’… This is an attempt to change the narrative.”

    Arogundade admonished the media to raise its head above the line by ensuring professional and ethical reporting, understanding the concerns of conflict management and resolution and most importantly holding the leadership to account.