Boko Haram Is Diabolical And Must Be Flushed Out, Sheik Gumi Says
By SaharaReporters, New York; Apr. 21, 2013
Sheik Ahmad Gumi has again denounced the Boko Haram Islamic sect as diabolical, and called for them to be flushed out from all of Northern Nigeria, drawing from the experience of the bombing of the Boston Marathon in the United States last week.
In his weekly sermon monitored by SaharaReporters in New York, the fearless Islamic cleric, who has already objected to amnesty for members of the violent sect, listed four “enemies of the people” he said Nigerians must fight.
“In Boston, with good intelligence analysis, good governance and genuine cooperation of the local populace, the terrorist were routed out without any harm in the populace way,” he said, drawing attention to an incident in Kano in which a terrorist was reportedly killed by the residents. “Therefore people in Nigeria should take on the fight themselves.”
For peace and security to return to our neighborhoods, he identified the four “clearly-defined” enemies which, he said, sometimes work together to perpetuate the state of insecurity that has gripped the nation since 2011:
- Boko Haram and their sympathisers;
- Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, their sympathisers and their supporters;
- Evil elements of the security outfits; and
- Bad governance.
“As for Boko Haram, every district should aspire to flush out suspicious people and document strangers,” Sheik Gumi said. “People should never allow strangers into their homes – many people were shot or slaughtered by strangers.”
He reiterated that the claims of Boko Haram about wanting to establish Sharia are known to everybody to be diabolical as there is no obstacle to the implementation of Sharia in the Northern Sharia states except the general ignorance about Sharia itself, the lack of sufficient qualified Sharia court judges and the waning political zeal.
“In Kaduna state at one time there was an advertisement for about 80 judges for which only about 27 applied,” he recalled, wondering how many of them were even qualified. “Of all the Boko Haram individuals, no one among them stands out as a qualified Qadi to dispense the Sharia law at its basic tenets. Lest anybody is deceived, never was any government or non-Muslim an obstacle to Sharia but our own doing.”
Turning to MEND, the cleric said that their direct influence can be very limited as they can easily be apprehended if they decide to be active outside their own sphere and if the authorities are up to the task.
“However, with the amnesty money flowing out of their pockets, the danger lies in their ability to finance terrorist groups,” he said, noting that some Chadians, Malians, Nigeriens and some northern Cameroonians are all available for bidders. “It is a catchment area for terrorist, assassins, robbers and criminals.”
He said MEND should be taught that petroleum is no longer a commodity for one ethnic group to monopolize, characterizing it as the pivot of the strategic survival of many nations.
To MEND he says: “If they want to deny their black brethren they cannot surely deny their Oyinbo masters. Is it then not enough for them, their enslavement in the southern plains of USA? Do they still extend free petrol power to the same masters that exploited them in the last century? Yet deny their kinsmen? They better wake up from daydreaming. Nobody can deny anybody the bounties of the earth.
They should also know that, it is the rest of the Nigerians that are tolerant of them, with their instincts to criminality acknowledged worldwide, who wants to be a citizen with criminals? They should know that to share a country with them, they do nobody any favors.”
Of the danger posed by the evil elements in the security agencies, he regretted that some of them hide behind their uniforms to harm the society because of ethnic or religious bigotry.
“They kill suspects with impunity and frame the innocents,” the cleric said. “People should document the security agents in their locality for the sake of posterity. I just heard that Musharraf a former military leader of Pakistan is under house arrest. Nobody is above the law all the time.”
Concluding with a few words on the challenge of bad governance, he described it as the core of the problem, pointing out that given good governance, all of the other problem groups can be neutralized.
“So as we watch out for bad elements in our society, whether, Boko Haram or MEND or BAD eggs of the security agents or BAD Governance, people should come together and bail out themselves from this servitude to evil people,” he said, stressing that Allah Helps those who help themselves. “ ‘O ye who believe! if ye will support (the cause of) Allah, He will support you, and plant your feet firmly.” Q47/7.May Allah protect us all from all Evil. Ameen!