A Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, on Tuesday, said the recent outburst of an Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, on the appointment of some Christians into strategic positions by President Bola Tinubu was aimed at re-securing his negotiation contract with bandits under the current administration.
The PUNCH reports that Gumi, during one of his sermons a few days ago, attacked Tinubu for appointing Southern Christians into key positions, vowing to ensure that he (Tinubu) does not secure a second term in office.
The cleric also accused the President of allegedly using the North to get to the Presidency only to pursue an agenda aimed at dealing with and decimating the political influence of the region.
Adeyemo, in a personally signed statement forwarded to The PUNCH in Ibadan, Oyo State, however, warned Gumi to desist from “fanning the ember of disunity” in Nigeria with his inflammatory statements, which he claimed are capable of causing disaffection among the citizenry.
Igboho said, “We know Gumi’s pedigree and his antics. Before the advent of Tinubu, individuals like him should have been explaining their roles to the security agencies on the festering insurgency in the northern parts of the country.
“While we will continue to advocate for an egalitarian society, we cannot fold our arms and allow Gumi to heat up the polity through his careless, destructive and inciting statements via his preachings. Nigeria’s security as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution must not be abused by anybody no matter how highly or lowly placed.
“We are not advocates for the Federal Government, but we remain part of critical stakeholders in Nigeria’s project, hence the need to drum sanity and decorum into the ears of anybody with traces of tendencies for religious fanaticism.
“For peace to reign supreme, it is incumbent on all and sundry to desist from any act that triggers mutual suspicion, distrust and needless crisis among Nigerians.”
He said Tinubu’s choice of his ministers and their activities should not be used as a decoy by anybody to seek reckoning or discreet threat to get the job of negotiating with bandits and terrorists like Gumi did under the immediate past administration of President, Muhammadu Buhari.