Department of State Services has on Friday announced that it has invited Kaduna-based cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi for questioning.
“Sheikh Gumi was invited by the Service,” the service’s spokesman, Peter Afunaya, said, Channels Television reports.
The spokesman added that “it is not out of place for it to invite any person of interest.”
Although the DSS did not confirm the rationale for the invitation, Sheikh Gumi is widely known for being outspoken on the issue of banditry in Nigeria and at the forefront of negotiations with bandits,
According to the cleric, amnesty should be extended to bandits, who he says have been ‘forced’ into criminality due to, in part, government neglect.
The invitation comes few days after he alleged that security operatives were colluding with terror gangs who are maiming and kidnapping people for ransom across Northwest Nigeria.
Speaking on an Arise Television Programme on Wednesday, June 23, the cleric who has visited the terrorists’ enclaves, accused security personnel of providing arms to bandits.
He said;
These bandits, if you don’t know, are cooperating with a lot of bad elements in our security system. This is a business. So many people are involved, you’ll be so surprised.
Reacting, Onyema Nwachukwu, army’s spokesperson, in a statement slammed the cleric, saying while the army will not excuse the possibility of “black sheep amongst its fold, it does not condone acts sabotaging its efforts as provided in the Section 45 (1) of the Armed Forces Act CAP A 20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.”
Nwachukwu said the allegation was a calculated attempt to denigrate the Nigerian military and undermine the sacrifices of “patriotic troops who are working tirelessly to restore peace and stability across the country.”
Read Also: Nigerian Army Slams Sheikh Gumi, Says Soldiers Not Colluding With Bandits
He added;
It is essential to remind ourselves that these same military, being accused of connivance, are the ones who recently put their lives on the line to rescue abductees of the Government Secondary School, Birnin Yauri, from kidnappers.
In February, Gumi was moving around and preaching to the terrorists to lay down their arms and embrace peace.
Read Also: ‘To Secure Schools, Engage Bandits, They Are Victims Too’ – Sheikh Gumi
The cleric has been canvassing amnesty for the terrorists, who have been intensifying their deadly attacks on vulnerable villagers as they operate from their camps in the large swathes of forests straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states.
However, many Nigerians often heavily criticise him for his controversial statements deemed apologetic to terrorists.
