No President In Nigerian History Has Killed Innocent Fulani Herdsmen Like Buhari —Sheikh Gumi

 

Controversial Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has said no other President has killed innocent Fulani herdsmen as Muhammadu Buhari has done.

 

 The controversial Islamic cleric who has been at the forefront of advocating negotiations for bandits disclosed this during an interview with Vanguard.

He also spoke on the metamorphosis of the Ansaru sect that attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train, killing some passengers and kidnapping several others.

According to Gumi, they had to carve out a small area where they could live their lives.

He dismissed reports that claim President Buhari is sectional and doesn’t want to do anything that will harm noble Muslims, especially Fulani.

“These bandits, who is supplying them weapons? There are bad elements in security (services). Even if you are the Commander-in-Chief, if you don’t look at the security system and overhaul it completely, this problem will continue,” he said.

Told the perception in some quarters that Buhari is protective of Fulani criminals, Gumi said, “Oh, it’s the opposite. It is just a wrong perception. If there is any President that has actually killed innocent herdsmen in the forest, it is Buhari. In all these bombardments, innocent people; women and children all die.

“It started during Jonathan (administration). I’m telling you most of the herdsmen are reacting to the overuse of armed forces. Their children were scattered and displaced. This is what happened and what is happening. They are just fighting back. And what I was able to do is to sit down with them and hear their grievances.

“But when we came out, we didn’t have anything — nobody was trying to listen. Even the press is not receptive.

“The press was very hostile. Like what you said when the BBC had its interview, the government was hostile. When we went in, we were accused of trying to give publicity to these people. Just imagine the Ansaru people behind the train attack, we later learnt that eight of their children were incarcerated.

“So no matter how criminally-minded you are, what has that to do with your children? So we’re pushing them into criminal activities.”