Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has debunked reports that he was either quizzed or invited for questioning by Department of State Security Service (DSS) over his remarks against the military.
He made this known known to Channels Television after presiding over a Jummat service at Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna State on Friday.
Read Also: DSS Invites Sheikh Gumi For Questioning
Sheikh Gumi said all his interventions with bandits inside the forest were done in collaboration with the support of the government and security agencies, hence he did not commit any offence.
He expressed;
Nobody Invited me for questioning or any arrest, I can say that categorically. Since I ventured into the forest, I went there with full security, the police, with the knowledge of the DSS, traditional rulers and the Fulani leaders, I never went alone.
The cleric also insisted that he never made any disparaging remarks against the military during his recent live interview on national television.
Read Also: Nigerian Army Slams Sheikh Gumi, Says Soldiers Not Colluding With Bandits
According to him, there was nowhere in the TV interview that he categorically accused the entire military.
According to ChannelsTV, DSS earlier on Friday said it invited the cleric for questioning.
“Sheikh Gumi was invited by the Service,” the service’s spokesman, Peter Afunaya, said in a response to the publication.
The spokesman added that “it is not out of place for it to invite any person of interest.”
Although the DSS did not disclose the reason for the invitation, it may not be unconnected to the Sheikh’s recent outspokenness on the issue of banditry in Nigeria.
The cleric believes that amnesty should be extended to bandits, who he says have been ‘forced’ into criminality due to, in part, government neglect.
