In a strongly-worded reaction, former Nigerian Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has issued a strong response to controversial comments made by Sheikh Ahmed Gumi. The response comes in the wake of Gumi’s contentious statements about Christians and Southerners, raising concerns about their trustworthiness with power, which has sparked a significant public outcry. Fani-Kayode did not mince words, addressing both the content and implications of Gumi’s statements.
He said, “I’m not too concerned about the rantings of this little monkey against the government because there are many people that in government that are paid to respond to him and handle that and I am not in government.”
“However, I am concerned about his rantings against the Christian community and against what I believe to be Southerners generally both Christian and Muslim, that’s how I’m reading all that he has said now.”
“He has said Christians cannot be trusted with power because when in power and when they have when they in control of guns or where they were when they’re in power they kill people, they kill leaders, they kill followers, they kill, whereas Muslims do not.”
“But let me ask him these questions, was
it the Christians that slaughtered over 100,000 people in Northern Nigeria in 1966 in pogroms? Was it the Christians that killed over 300 Igbo officers in the July 29th 1966 counter-coup? Was it Christians that slaughtered people all over the north from 1970 up until the present day?”
“All over the North slaughtered Christians whether it be through Boko Haram, Iswap as so many other extremist barbaric terrorist organizations.”
“Was it a Christian that said that, he would rather die than allow a Muslim to rule over the affairs of Nigeria? was it not Sheki Ahmed Gumi’s father, Sheki Abubakar Gumi that rather said that he would rather die than to allow a Christian to rule our country?”
“And amazingly he died a few months later and a Christian took over, a Christian took power. All the butchery and the mass murders that have taken place in Northern Nigeria and even parts of Southern Nigeria in Zangon Kataf in Southern Kaduna, in Adamawa
State, in Benue State, in Taraba State, in Plateau State, all over the north where Christian communities were targeted by various Islamist groups and various terrorist groups and butchered in their homes and hacked to pieces.”
“Even in parts of the south when the Fulani herdsmen were down in the south butchering people as far as the east as far as Yoruba land, northern Yoruba land as far as parts of the south-south were these people that perpetuated these as Christians or are they terrorists.”
“I won’t call them Muslims, I’ll call them terrorists because they do not represent Islam. These people were butchers and barbarians rather like Hamas and what they were doing to people is precisely what Hamas did to the Christians the to the Jews on October 7th of this month.”
“So he should stop trying to make it look as if only Christians kill. Human beings kill one another and that’s a tragedy but he should stop pointing fingers at the Christian community and stop disregarding the fact that there are many millions of decent God-fearing Muslims in both the North and the South, who cannot be categorized as terrorists like him.”
“Let me just add this the terrorists that he represents kill not just Christians, but they kill Muslims too if not of that were the case how do you explain the fact that these same terrorists that this man represents and constantly defends and helps and rationalizes and negotiates on their behalf and so forth and speaks for them and is their main advocate that’s what he does.”
“He’s their main advocate these same terrorists slaughter Muslims in Sokoto, in Zamfara, in Kebbi, in Jigawa, and all over the core north. They also slaughter Muslims in Borno, in Yobe, in Adamawa, and all over the northeast so the people he represents, or rather the animals that Sheikh Ahmad Gumi represents are not Muslims they’re terrorists.”
“And they kill as many Muslims as they do Christians. They kill both Christians and Muslims, so who is he to now get up and say that Christians cannot be trusted with guns or positions of power or in the military
on the security agencies or intelligence age.”
“This issue is above politics. If we are one nation, we should learn to respect one another, nothing matters more than this. Whether you’re a Northerner a Southerner a Christian or a Muslim respect one another other, than that, we may not have a nation left and God forbid that this country should be engulfed in a religious crisis or another war may God forbid.”
“I’ll be writing on this in the next couple of days but this is just a shot and I would have gone much further had it not been for the fact that the governor of his state that is Governor Uba Sani is a good friend of mine and out of respect to him I’ll be a little bit more restrained than I ordinarily would have been on this Gumi man if not for that.”
“But let it be clear to the whole country, we as Christians will not bow to anybody and
neither will rational reasonable Muslims bow to his type of terroristic rhetoric and neither will we let such people push us into a civil war we want peace in this country.”
“I call on the government, the DSS, the police, all the security agencies, and President Bola Tinubu to ensure that this man is called to order that he’s called in, he’s warned, he’s arrested and if necessary prosecuted for incitement and an attempt to destabilize our country, Thank you.” He concluded.
