CAN: Buhari’s silence on Gumi’s profiling of soldiers is an endorsement

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has criticised President Muhammadu Buhari’s silence on the profiling of soldiers by Ahmad Gumi, an Islamic cleric.

Gumi was quoted to have said non-Muslim soldiers carried out orchestrated killings of bandits.

Reacting in a statement on Wednesday, CAN said anyone making such claims “does not wish this country well”, and does not want the war against terrorism and banditry to end.

CAN said if the statement had been made by a Christian leader, security operatives would have invited the person for questioning.

“This unreasonable outburst is not only demoralising and a plot to divide the Nigerian military into two along religious lines, it equally derogatively portrays the non-Christian soldiers as being not committed to fighting criminality,” the statement reads.

“President Muhammadu Buhari’s prolonged silence is tantamount to an endorsement of Gumi’s dangerous statement. 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.

“We recalled how 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 and equally reacted to by the government. Do we truly have sacred cows in the country now?”

Meanwhile, Gumi has repeatedly sought compensation and amnesty for the bandits.

But Buhari has said there will be no amnesty for bandits or criminals, adding that his administration would deal with them.