Tony Akowe profiles the enigmatic Islamic scholar, Sheikh Gumi
For many Nigerians, especially the Muslim folk, the name Dr. Ahmed Gumi needs no introduction. A trained medical doctor, the renowned Islamic scholar is noted for his frank views on issues of national importance and has sometimes found himself involved in some controversies.
A graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria, the Saudi Arabia-based Nigerian Islamic scholar is the son of one of Nigeria’s greatest Islamic scholars and winner of the King Fahd Prize, the late Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi. Since the death of his father, Gumi has always returned to the country during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to conduct Tafsir at the Sultan Bello Mosque, regarded as Kaduna’s Central Mosque. Since the beginning of the current security challenge in the country, occasioned by activities of the Boko Haram insurgence, he has remained very critical of their activities and has sometimes, branded them un-Islamic.. During one of his Tafsirs, he told those who cared to listen that there was nothing Islamic in the activities of the insurgent group, asking them and those who kill in the name of Islam to desist and ask for forgiveness before the wrath of Allah descend on them. Interestingly, no Islamic scholar in the north had spoken against activities of the group in such a direct manner and there are those who believe that his statement against the group marked him out as a potential target of attack.
Unconfirmed reports have it that one of the bomb explosions within Kaduna metropolis was actually targeted at him because of his statement. Two suspected suicide bombers riding on a motor bike had died a few metres to his house along Moddibo Adama Road near the state House of Assembly on a day Gumi was to round off the 2012 Tafsir at the Sultan Bello Mosque.
A potential target
Even though security sources said that the two suicide bombers who were carrying a television set were heading for the mosque where Gumi was to be with thousands of Muslims, he was of the belief that they were planting the bomb along the road where he was supposed to follow while going to the mosque. He was quoted to have said in an interview that he got information about an attempt to eliminate him before the incident happened, expressing surprise that the security agents never bothered to inform him to be careful. He said, “My name was among the list drawn up for elimination by the so-called Boko Haram. This information was there two days in the Nigerian Army headquarters and I heard it in the morning before the incident. Nobody told me officially that your life was under threat. I had just finished an interview with a newspaper and was to leave for the mosque. We have a convoy that do follow Ali Akilu Road on the way to the mosque. Two men on a motor bike were placed to watch our convoy. When our first car passed through the road, they quickly went a few metres to plant the explosive so that when my car approached the place, they can now use remote to detonate it. Unfortunately for them, I did not follow the usual route. Two minutes later, we heard a loud explosion. So powerful it was that it shook our house, you can go there and see the hole by the roadside. I quickly sent two of my boys to go and take pictures if possible. On reaching there, one of the bombers was still alive. One of them had a pistol, which I supposed was meant to finish the job in the event that the explosion did not kill me. The supposed Boko Haram bombers that targeted me that day are not Muslims. So, this Boko Haram thing is a creation of western powers. They will kill whoever criticises Boko Haram and say it is Boko Haram. They will have to wash their hands from the blood of innocent Nigerians that are being killed daily. They kill in churches, they kill in mosques and they target anyone that they think poses a threat to their heinous crime. The foreign enemy got our government as an umbrella to operate. That is what is going on and I don’t know what they stand to gain.”
A foreign ploy
He is a firm believer in the fact that the Boko Haram insurgency is a creation of a few persons who want to destabilise the country for their own gains. In an interview with a Kaduna-based media outfit, Dr. Gumi accused the United States of America (USA) of being the brain behind the insurgence. He said “the issue of Boko Haram in its current formation is super-imposed from America, who wants to balkanise Nigeria for their benefit. There was an American security expert, who once wrote extensively about the Boko Haram. He said it is true there is Boko Haram but the present consistent bombings and killings are the handwork of foreign elements who want to balkanise Nigeria. For example, there was a letter circulated in the western part of Nigeria marked ‘top secret’ purportedly written and signed by one Datti Ahmed, dated as far back as February 2011. That is almost a year before the bombings started. My attention was drawn to the letter by a friend. The content of the letter indicates that some Muslim leaders have a plan to publicly condemn Boko Haram while they will secretly encourage and support Boko Haram to attack churches and some Christian clerics. I know they are indirectly alleging that the letter was signed by our Dr Datti Ahmed. In the said letter, the names of Generals Buhari, Babangida, Gov. Isa Yuguda, myself and even Sanusi Lamido Sanusi were alleged to have participated in that meeting. I was supposed to be the chief strategist and the outside contact of the group. You can see how stupid and ridiculous that fabrication can be. Gen. Buhari is an intelligent officer and so is Gen. Babangida and myself. How can we put it on paper if actually such a meeting took place? This is the handiwork of those who want to pitch Christians against the Muslims. Remember the letter was distributed only in the southern part of the country where Christians are in the majority. There was also another letter purportedly written by one Christian Boko Haram called Akhwat Akwop. The letter allegedly threatened to attack Muslims in the north. The letter was distributed in the northern part of the country. This is meant to incite Muslims also against Christians so that we could start killing ourselves for eventual break up of Nigeria. It is part of the American policy to always seek to break any country that has oil into smaller units. So, all what you are seeing in the name of Boko Haram is a foreign destabilisation plot using some fifth columnists within the Nigerian security circle. Now the north has found oil along Maiduguri and even Sokoto. That is why they predicted that Nigeria is going to break up into pieces to allow them to suck our oil.”
When the Jonathan administration finally succumbed to pressure to grant amnesty to members of the Boko Haram Islamic group, Dr. Gumi was among prominent Nigerians who condemned the action, saying rather than grant them amnesty, the group should have been exterminated. He said in a sermon placed on his Facebook page that the clamour for amnesty was hypocritical and that the group ought to be crushed. He was of the opinion that Prophet Mohammed (SAW) would have personally led in exterminating the sect, adding that “every individual in this nation is concerned about the future. Nigeria is catalytically deteriorating. Today, the national discourse is on corruption and amnesty for terrorism. Corruption is incurable, it is only suppressed. That is by genuine ethics/faith illumination campaigns, W.A.I, Re-brand Nigeria etc. and an effective system of accountability (i.e. check and balance) or what can be summed up as good governance.” He believed that members of the sect have disrespect for the Quran or Hadith or anything scholarly, saying “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 was alive to exterminate.” But he believes that the present administration does not have the moral ground to end the Boko Haram insurgency while condemning the activities of the Joint Task Force. He said: “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 BH is genuine, it would have been achieved since. Boko Haram members are armed individuals hiding among the civilian population. They do not control any high fire power to be engaged in a war. Therefore, there is absolutely no need -what so ever- 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.”
Frank talk
With his frankness, the Islamic scholar has often stirred controversies. One of such is his call on President Jonathan to resign and the other being a statement credited to him that the late Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna State and Gen. Andrew Azazi were killed in a helicopter crash because they were plotting against Islam. He said of President Jonathan: “The conviction of (Henry) Okah, to me, is the conviction of MEND as the first terrorist bomb attack the nation witnessed, which Jonathan hastily used the SSS to exonerate and then implicate innocent people. Was he misled into that? Anyhow, this was exactly the dilemma Jesus Christ went through – the persecution of an innocent man of God in the hands of people that claim piety and speak on behalf of God. This is an anti-Christ activity. It is shameful. This incidence has made me not see Jonathan on the right of the spectrum. He can still be good but he is definitely mired in evil. Evil that either directly kills innocent people or evil that masks killers or evil that takes advantage from the murder of the innocents for political gains. If Jonathan should be a true man of God, let him repent and step down. An Amnesty International report has affirmed to that. That will also stop any pretext of Boko Haram, the evil that permeated Islam – the ravening grievous wolves in sheep’s clothing. Boko Haram, either genuinely a northern political ploy as claimed, or a smear from the clandestine security agents for his political advantage.”
Gumi is also quoted by Sahara Reporters, the US-based Nigerian online journal as saying that it is wrong to compel anyone to practice Islam saying that there is no compulsion on non-Muslims to convert to Islam. The online journal claimed that Gumi was reacting to reports that Boko Haram asked President Goodluck Jonathan to convert to Islam. Quoting an undisclosed source, it said, “Mallam made it clear today that there is no compulsion and forceful conversion to our Islamic religion. He explained that enemies of Islam and some misguided Muslims are responsible for creating confusion and division among Muslim Ummah. He made it clear that Muslims are not against Christians or any religion, but wondered why it is that whenever the talk about Sharia comes up, some lie and throw up all kinds of falsehood that there is a plot to Islamise Nigeria.”
At the wedding of two of Vice President Namadi Sambo’s daughters at the Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna, he again stirred another controversy. He was reported to have publicly admonished the leader of the Derica sect, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, for reciting the Salatul fatih (salutation of the Prophet of Islam), an issue which generated serious debate in the media. While not denying the statement credited to him, he was quick to defend himself, saying, “I think the media guys are always eager to get something to publish so that they will sell their papers. What happened was that the VP invited people of different inclinations from different parts of the country to the wedding of his daughters and I was invited. After the wedding, I and Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi were called to cap up the occasion with prayers. Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi did his own prayer and then recited this Salatul faith which I called controversial. When he finished, I was given the microphone and I said that when Muslims gather together in such a big place with the nation’s leaders, it will be an offence or sin against Allah if we disperse without admonishing ourselves on what is beneficial to our religion. I said, okay, let me admonish us, after finishing my own prayer I started. First, I said the first Wasiyya that is paramount to us is that we should fear Allah. Allah advised us in the Qur’an that we should fear. The second advice was unity. Allah says in the Qur’an that you should come together and unite and you should not be divided. So on this note, I gave an example. I said to Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi ‘for you to recite Salatul Fatih in this mosque where Sunnah of the Prophet is established is un-thoughtful.’ If he hadthought out well, he wouldn’t have recited it there. I said whatever you recite or you do that will cause a division among Muslims, the Prophet doesn’t like it. The Prophet said, “My nation and Ummah (community) will never come together on something that is bad.” So when you hold on tight to something and the whole Ummah does not agree with you, then you should know that you are holding to something very controversial. If you do prayer or pay Zakat, can anybody oppose you? So when you do something that is known in religion, nobody will oppose you. That is why the Prophet said the nation will never unite on something that is bad, meaning it will only unite on something that is good. So when you have a controversial issue, don’t bring it into the nation. I said this to teach them. If you need the unity of Muslims, don’t bring your sectional belief or ideology to Muslims. If he had recited the Salatul Fatih inside him, I wouldn’t have objected. Even God preferred the prayer done silently.”
What is clear is that Dr. Gumi is a man who does not run away from controversies and does not believe in not rocking the boat or ruffling feathers. He has proved that he is a true chip off the old block. A true reflection of his father; a man who says his mind no matter whose ox is gored.
