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In what appears to be a rebuttal against the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, said only “a fool will allow his dwelling to be a theatre of war.”
In an article posted on his Facebook wall on Thursday, Adesina, had while praising the military’s offensive against bandits in the North West, said “bandits are going to hell.”
The presidential aide also described Gumi as a “bandit-lover.” Though he did not mention Gumi’s name, Adesina quoted the cleric’s statement verbatim, noting that the cleric’s position on the military bombardment of the bandits is “false.”
“In the different evil forests, when the Nigerian Air Force strikes from the sky, the remnants of the evildoers not killed immediately attempt to flee. The ground troops then pick them off like flies. I say it again. One has never been prouder of our troops. They are cleaning up the country.
“Shocking and disconcerting, however, that in the middle of all these, you still hear words meant to discourage our gallant soldiers. A bandit-lover is on record as saying military offensive would not work, and that the bandits “are going nowhere.” True? False. They are going somewhere. And that is: hell,” Adesina wrote.
But reacting in an article posted on his verified Facebook page on Friday, Gumi said; “You bootlicker that called me a bandit-lover! I am not one, but my country-lover, my region-lover, my state-lover, and my people-lover, and humanity-lover.”
The cleric insisted that bandits must be forgiven and be given amnesty if Nigeria is serious about ending banditry in the country.
He argued that if those who instigated civil war and those who committed treasonable offences could be forgiven, the same treatment should be applied to bandits
He said: “I am a qualified Medical Doctor who knows what it takes to precisely excise a brain tumour without destroying the delicate surrounding brain tissues.
“I was a commissioned military officer who knows what the military is for and what is the capability of our military.
“I am an intellectual with a Ph.D. from Abroad. I am an Islamic scholar who knows the immorality of killing innocent lives. So, silence for me in this ocean of oblivion is not an option.
“Only a fool would allow his dwelling to be a theatre of war. Unfortunately, how many fools are there.
“Killing rats in your rat-infested sitting room with an iron rod will only end up destroying your gadgets and furniture probably without killing any. We should not mask out poor governance with artillery power.”