By Vincent .C. Mba
“[I]f we give you Christians power with your infidels as heads of security agencies, they will plan to kill me and I have examples.” – Sheikh Ahmad Gumi
For how long should we continue the pretenses of rebuilding the broken tower of Babel?
Boxing irreconcilable contradictions into a canister while praying it doesn’t explode?
How more foolish could a people be in coming to the realization they’ve got it all wrong?
What more would happen before we know it’s time to construct for ourselves a more sustainable paradigm of coexistence?
Should this canister explode or implode, it’s clearly because of our collective foolishness in attempting to rebuild the tower of Babel.
He that hath ears, let him hear, we can and should live in peace together, but certainly in these hypercharged canisters
Each constituent federating subnational units must have the space within the framework of a decentralised union to find their fullest being.
Sheikh Gumi and what he represents have a right to want to destroy Israel, but he certainly doesn’t have a right to make Nigeria as presently constituted structured and governed toe his lines
But, isn’t it time to genuinely restructure Nigeria in view of the deepest animosities across the spectrum?
So that each constituent federating subnational units may within their territories, worldviews and aspirations choose between Israel and Sheikh Gumi who to follow?
How can we build for ourselves a nation we’ll all be proud of and happy to live in with these levels of hate oozing out from all sides?
Nations are myths constructed and sustained around certain irreducible inviolable sacred minimum values of shared beliefs
The 15th January, 1966 coup was clearly unjustifiable, it’s execution was clearly unjustifiable, but how many more Igbos and Southerners and even northern Christians may be murdered in order to compensate for the unjustifiable 1966 coup?
Would restructuring Nigeria along the lines of genuine federalism (quasi sovereigns) anchored on the extant six geopolitical zones truly bring this country to grief as propagated by the Sheikh Gumis?
I do not think so, I think it’s rather the other way round, ie, this canister, like an active volcano is simmering underneath, ever threatening to explode, and would indeed explode unless deliberately dexterously defused.
V. C. Mba
The Kaduna-based Islamic scholar, Ahmad Gumi, had said Christians cannot be trusted with security in the country.
The controversial cleric stated this in a video sermon of over 14 minutes posted on his official Facebook page.
In the sermon, Gumi said the first coup d’etat in Nigeria was carried out by top Christian army officers.
He went on to curse citizens who campaigned assiduously for the Muslim-Muslim ticket as worthless hypocrites and money-mongers who chased dollars for pleasure and worldly purposes.
Below is an excerpt of the sermon as translated from Hausa:
“The Minister of the FCT is a Satanic person; I said it before when he was appointed and some people were grumbling. He has gone and brought the Israeli Ambassador, that’s what someone sent and I am yet to watch it. But what is confirmed is he said they will collaborate with the Israelis on Abuja’s security issues. Abuja will now become an extension of Tel Aviv and when they see anyone with a beard like us, they will say it is Bin Laden and we will be killed.
“Where are those that worked for the Muslim-Muslim ticket? Hypocrites and worthless people. Abuja is becoming an extension of Tel Aviv and security is the bastion of the people. Have you not heard the silence? They know what they are doing. One Miyetti Allah leader came and told me that if they come to me with a proposal of negotiation with bandits, I should not be part of it, that I should leave it alone.
“It is a decoy. Muslims are the heads of the Ministry of Defence, of what significance is it? The real people in charge of Command and Control, those holding the guns and shooting, are we the ones? We are not the ones; they are playing us. There is an agenda. All means of money and economic power have been hijacked by them, they are planning to deceive us for four years and get eight years. They will not InshaAllah.
“I want to tell you, there is no way Northerners doing their legitimate business will get one billion naira. Our rich people cannot get anything except those they trust. They only trust them because they are doing what they want. Anyone whose loyalty they are not sure of, they will crush him in a few months.
“They will only come during elections like it is done to spread grains to chickens. If they spread grains to chickens, that’s all. Giving spaghetti to people is the solution, this spaghetti issue is a big deal. We are being cheated in this country and in a real mess.
“There’s one Reverend or Bishop during Buhari’s tenure who was saying to me that Muslims have hijacked power. I told him, ‘Yes and I am okay,’ because I knew the Chief of Army Staff would not attempt to attack me. Even if he will not protect me, he will not collaborate with some people to attack me. Our own people either in the military, police or the Department of State Services (DSS) will not be used to harm me, they will also not harm you who is talking as a Christian.
“I want you to know the difference. If you give them power, you give them guns, they will strive to harm you. Let me give you examples: Was Sardauna not a Premier? Who killed him? You gave them guns, Nzeogwu killed him. Who killed Murtala (Muhammed)? Dimka from the North. How did Babangida fare? He escaped by whiskers. who wanted to kill him? Gideon Orkar. You give them guns and they will kill you. Once you give them power, that’s all.
“There’s one Aliyu Masruhi from Tanzania, he had said this for long that there’s no society that gives power without conditions. If it becomes inevitable that we will give power, we must ensure for example security is in our hands and other things and he said, do you agree? But how can you surrender power then you go and hide?
“If Israelis enter this country, there will be a clandestine operation against any outspoken Islamic cleric; we have seen the signs. Why was Sheikh Jaafar killed? May his soul rest in peace, why did they kill Sheikh Albany? You can see how they are killing; there’s a hit list and we have known this for long.
“Why am I walking with the police? You didn’t see me with police during Buhari’s government, despite my disagreement with them. It is because of this threat that we applied for police protection and they gave us. Even if the President doesn’t like me, he has to give me police protection or else he will be held responsible for my life.
“For you to understand, they will bring the MOSSAD into our country. Because of this, Tinubu should know that we know their plan, he must choose. He should remove the Minister of Abuja; if not, we will collide with him. On the day of a bath, the navel is not hidden.
“Let me tell you what happened during President (Goodluck) Jonathan’s time. We went to a meeting one day at the DSS headquarters and met one operative who knew my police detail. One day he called us and gave us the number of a Mercedes 4matic. He said he was in the toilet and heard the arrangement of how a hit squad had been assembled to kill Sheikh Gumi.
“All the killings that happened during Jonathan’s time in Jaji were executed by the military and not Boko Haram. Now have you not known the real Boko Haram? Can Boko Haram plant a bomb in Jaji if not them? General Shuwa was killed despite having soldiers in his house. They went and killed him. They were angry because he fought the civil war. You gave them power and they killed your leaders.
“All the killings perpetrated by Israelis are nothing, but the attack carried out by Hamas is now their nightmare. If any Muslim in Nigeria has ever killed a President in this country, they will have put a ceiling on our people’s military career progression. If they attain the rank of a Captain, they will not be trusted to progress and we will concede. But how about them? They killed our leaders, not one, not two, not three. Once you give them power, they will kill, they will continue to kill our people.
“After the DSS operative leaked the plot to kill me, I quickly informed the police commissioner and also posted on Facebook. He then heard them saying the operation should be called off since it was leaked. They now said the person who leaked it was inside their office. He was arrested and detained for two months and survived by chance. He came to my house after two months and explained all that transpired and how he survived by the grace of God.
“One day during Ramadan fasting, I was working to use a projector, I now put the children in a car to proceed to the mosque before me. After the car left the house, we heard a bomb explosion. I asked that pictures of the scene should be taken. There was an attack by bees there, but two people were killed and they were in chains and had pistols, meaning if the bomb did not kill us, they would use the pistol to finish us. The third person coming from Ungwan Shanu was also killed by the bomb explosion.
“We then continued with our study. Three people were killed. If you remember that time, I thank Governor Ramalan Yero for not stopping the Ramadan study. When I returned home, the correspondents of BBC Hausa and Voice of America met me, saying they went to the scene to get stories and capture the real Boko Haram, but troops had sealed off the scene and forced them to delete the pictures they captured. They told me ‘we are trying to know Boko Haram and we have found Boko Haram in action and you are saying we should delete their pictures’.
“The dead bodies of the attackers were hurriedly evacuated in a military vehicle and made to disappear. When Daily Trust reporters came to me, I told them the story and they went to One Division Nigerian Army, and One Division Nigerian Army said they had no information that soldiers took the dead bodies of the two people. Suddenly one Muslim working in the 44 Nigerian Army Hospital’s mortuary came and said the two dead bodies were indeed deposited in the mortuary, and they were Southerners from their looks.
“It is the military that is carrying out these attacks; they are the ones who struck in Jaji to stop Major General MD Isa from becoming the Chief of Army Staff. They are the ones who also killed General Shuwa and all of us are targets.
“I am telling you people to be wise and don’t be fools because of God. These our Muslims politicians just want dollars to go on holidays, go for medical treatments and have forgotten the people. They are targeting us and that was what I was telling that pastor/bishop that if we Muslims are in power with Muslims as heads of security agencies, we will not kill you but if we give you Christians power with your infidels as heads of security agencies, they will plan to kill me and I have examples.
“They killed Sardauna, they killed Tafawa Balewa and they killed Murtala. They killed our people, tell me your own that was killed. This is what I asked him. But they were making noise and shouting that Buhari was doing nepotism. I know but it has no significance because we don’t do evil. However, these people will not help you but do evil, and that’s why we are saying don’t leave power.”
