- Safiu Kehinde
Controversial Nigerian Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmed Gumi, has accused the United States of marking him for elimination over terrorism allegations against him.
Gumi made this known while addressing his congregation on Sunday.
Speaking in Hausa, the cleric disclosed that security sources from Abuja had in a phone call informed him that he has been listed among individuals marked for elimination with Boko Haram terror group.
“They called me from Abuja, that there was a security meeting,
“They said I have been marked; that I will be eliminated. And who are Boko Haram?” Gumi said.
The cleric however accused the US of being responsible for the terrorism in Nigeria as he blamed them for the emergence of Boko Haram.
“Even American, they said they came to fight terrorists, so who are the terrorists? They are the ones.”
“They are the ones doing it – Boko Haram. You will hear something. Here won’t they put bomb? he said.
According to reports, Gumi alleged that Nigeria’s deepening insecurity and social divisions were worsened by lies, destruction and policies he attributed to United States President, Donald Trump, claiming that Nigerian leaders and clerics retreated into silence as the country slid into crisis.
The cleric held that Nigeria became more fractured due to what he described as foreign-backed money and narratives that oppressed citizens and falsely portrayed Christians as the sole victims of insecurity.
He slammed other scholars over their silence on the natonal issue.
“Because of lies, you brought violence, but where are the leaders, what did they do?” Gumi asked. “What about the scholars? Where are they? Everyone has gone to hide in their corners.
“You brought us hardship, you broke us. You oppressed us, you denied us our rights,” the cleric said, lamenting what he described as the labeling of parts of Nigeria along religious lines.
Gumi warned that the current situation, marked by fear, silence and division, was dragging the country downward, stressing that continued avoidance by leaders and clerics would only deepen Nigeria’s crises.
“This is the kind of situation we are in,” he said. “It is dragging the country down.” The cleric said.
Gumi argued that no sovereign country would accept external interference designed to divide its people along religious or social lines.
“Which country would agree to bring something in just to divide its people? There is no country that would accept that,
“It would say either you bring all of us together, or you hold us and hand us over to them.” He said.