– He said President Buhari must be careful in the way he is tackling corruption
– The cleric advised Nigerians to come together to dialogue irrespective of political affiliation
Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has said that Goodluck Jonathan should never have been Nigeria’s president but got the position because the country was bribing the Niger Delta.
Sheikh Ahmed Gumi has accused Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky of running a parallel government for 40 years.
In an interview with Daily Trust, the Islamic cleric based in Kaduna said because oil was the life blood of Nigeria, the country had been bribing some people in the region to allow blood to flow. He said part of the pacification was to make Jonathan the vice president and he later emerged as president.
He said: “I saw this re-emergence of Niger Delta militancy coming. This is political. I once said it about a year ago that this problem would come up. Because of the fact that the lifeline of Nigeria’s economy depends on oil, the previous governments were made to be bribing these people for them to allow the oil production to flow. It went to the level as if Nigeria was sharing the oil with them. Obasanjo started that and Yar’adua officialised it.
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“The coming of Jonathan into the centre of power was part of that bribe; otherwise it wouldn’t have been possible for him to become vice president and subsequently president of Nigeria. These are parts of the price which we have to pay to get the oil. If you know that you don’t have enough power to check these people, don’t incite them, because they can cripple your government.
“What the previous governments did was to pacify these people, not because that was the right thing to do. But if Nigeria is sure that it can crush these people, then the steps the government have taken were right. However, we know that Nigeria is fragile and taking these stern measures may destabilise the government.”
Gumi said corruption should not be tackled fiercely and hinted that President Muhammadu Buhari was tackling corruption too hard which is making the menace fight back.
Goodluck Jonathan in an hadshake with President Muhammadu Buhari, after handing over power at the Eagles Square, Abuja, May 29, 2015. Photo: Vanguard
“We should have tackled this issue of corruption gently, because when it fights back, it kills. The people that live on corruption, that is their religion. If you stop it, they would feel that you are strangling them and they fight back to strangle you. You may be surprised to discover the people behind this Niger Delta issue. This is Nigeria’s major problem.
“It is also not good for the government to have many fronts to fight. Fighting many fronts can negatively affect our economy. Look at Saudi Arabia that is having the one-quarter of the oil reserve in the world, because it is fighting in Yemen and other places, it is having economic problems. Therefore, if the Niger Delta problem continues, the government may face more challenges, because these people have a lot of money.
He suggested that the country call for dialogue irrespective of party affiliation and predicted that a time will come when people who want to steal the country’s money will not find money to steal.
READ ALSO: Prominent cleric reveals reasons of Nigeria’s problems
“What the government needs to do is to call for regional dialogue by talking with relevant stakeholders. I think the government should forget about their party or ideologies and share power with these regional stakeholders. What killed corruption in UK and USA, perhaps, was the fact that the citizens cannot even see what to steal. So, let’s be patient, as a time would come when Nigerians who want to steal cannot see what to steal.
FG deploys troops to crush Niger Delta Avengers
“Now that we need stability and the president has the goodwill of Nigerians, bringing these stakeholders would really yield results, because the politicians know that the president has more supporters than them. But if we insist to continue this way, they will sabotage him. The president’s faithful are following him because they want to put bread on their tables. He needs to share the government with these regional stakeholders for him to succeed.
“The last election can justify this argument I am making. Eleven million people were behind what we termed as the most corrupt government, while 15 million were behind change and the fight against corruption. From this you can see that there may be a head-on collision between the people that are supporting corruption, who are the cream of the society, and those that are against corruption. The danger here is those for corruption are the elites with so much influence, while those against are the common people. Therefore, if there is clash, those for corruption may withdraw their services and the country may collapse. Nigerian elites have made corruption to be their religion.
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“I think the government has to pacify these people in order to move smoothly and achieve its goals. The president should have adopted the Islamic politics of accommodating enemies. When Jonathan took up his phone and called him to concede defeat, he could have brought him on board.
“Islam accommodates even enemies. When the Prophet (pbuh) conquered Mecca, he freed all his enemies and embraced those that agreed to move with him, and he encouraged dialogue. This is what the president needs to do.”

Very well said. He is right!

Sheik Gumi, abeg na name of rappa abi na name of tomatoes pest. Lobbish

and Nigeria has been bribing the tribesmen of Gumi for years!

Nigeria has been bribing the elites and thugs from all the regions for years.

Let the people have their resources, their govts back.

The Hausa man can survive without oil. After all its the elites there that corner it all for their children and children's children leaving the 95% with nothing and no incentive to engage in productive activities beyond being political thugs and Islamic killing machines.

Back to regions and 100% resource control.

As funny as the statements may sound, the speaker spoke well. Make baba chill with this his corruption fight. Too much ado about this corruption war and the real work is lagging behind.

adehsenior:
Sheik Gumi, abeg na name of rappa abi na name of tomatoes pest.
Lobbish

listen to the truth yellow bar

Regional confederation is the way to go or split. If the govt decides to fight n 'crush' supposed enemies, it will only cause grave losses in both sides and still lose. Even it's legitimacy will die.

Bribing anyone is corruption. It is obvious that regional autonomy and resource control is back to the centre stage. This government, if it has any sense, had better get on the side of the people and give them more power m control over their resources both human n material. The moment the freedom fighters of the East fine tune their tactics and win d hearts of the people particularly in the region, d government will be crippled because it will lose both public support and material resources.

I always say it is better to negotiate from a position of strength. Now there is room to bargain, acede to the real path to development and good governance while there is still a bit of goodwill. Kick start d public consultations and participation, review d confab and let d legislature get useful now those structures are still recognised.