If Gumi were to be a Christian, Buhari would have declared him wanted – CAN

The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has expressed disappointment over what it described as the prolonged silence by President Muhammadu Buhari regarding the alleged move to polarise the military along religious divides by Sheik Abubakar Gumi.

In a statement issued by the CAN General Secretary, Joseph Bade Daramola, on Wednesday, the association said that Buhari’s prolonged silence is tantamount to an endorsement of Gumi’s dangerous statement.

“We have not heard the Presidency react to this dangerous statement as they are supposed to do, cautioning this cleric who has thrown caution to the wind. Such a grave allegation is evil, divisive, unpatriotic, ill-wind and reprehensible,” it said.

“CAN expressed shocks, pains and disappointment in one Islamic leader, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, over his alleged profiling of military operatives recently while addressing some bandits in Tegina forest, a border town between Niger and Kaduna States.

“If what Gumi reportedly said was attributed to a Christian leader, the security operatives would have invited him or declared him wanted and the Presidency would have publicly condemned that Christian leader,” he said.

CAN recalled how comments made by Apostle Johnson Suleiman, Dr Obadiah Mailafia, Prophet Isa El-Buba and of recent, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Dr Matthew Hassan Kukah’s statements were handled by security operatives.

According to CAN, the federal government equally reacted swiftly to statements recently made by the Christian religious leaders.

“Do we truly have sacred cows in the country now? We are curious to know how Gumi was able to locate the whereabouts of the bandits when our security agencies are giving us the impression that they are invincible.

“If the terrorists can be located, what hinders the police and the military from arresting them and bringing them to book? Is anyone in government conniving with the terrorists so that this insecurity might continue?

“We call on Gumi to immediately withdraw the unpatriotic and divisive utterances credited to him in the interest of peace and unity of this country,” it said.