Wike Eminently Qualified To Be FCT Minister – MBF Tells Gumi, Others

• Says Abuja does not belong to Fulani

The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has declared that Chief Nyesom Wike is eminently qualified to be appointed to his present position as the Minister of the FCT as he does not represent any religion or ethnic group but, only represents and works for the Nigerian people.

It warned those who are uncomfortable with Wike’s appointment to better wake up and smell the coffee and realise that the era when religion played the winning card was over.

This was as it said that history remained unequivocal that at no time were the Fulani aborigines (original inhabitants) of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The MBF particularly stressed that no country would survive a religious crisis of the magnitude Gumi and his gang are trying hard to plunge the country into thus, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to act quickly and punish elements determined to unleash ethnic and religious war on the people.

The Middle Belt Forum which is an organisation comprising the ethnic nationalities of the Middle Belt region that stretches across the middle section of Nigeria said that the fact that the Fulani were at no time aborigines of the FCT is documented and established by all verified historical narrations.

It said that the list of the ethnic configuration of the FCT in all known pieces of literature does not include the Fulani as indigenous to the FCT thus, the noise by Sheik Ahmed Gumi and his co-travelers that the FCT belongs to them is a failed attempt to stand history on its head.

The Middle Belt Forum, which stated these while reacting to a trending video clip by Sheikh Ahmed Gumi, a Kaduna-based Islamic Cleric, said the Islamic cleric, noted for making a case for killer herdsmen across the country and negotiating payment of ransom for the release of kidnapped victims, has the boldness to state that it was wrong for a Christian infidel (arne) to be appointed Minister of the FCT.

These were contained in a statement by Dr. Pogu Bitrus, National President of the MBF, who said the Forum would have ignored Gumi’s outburst, but for the cancerous interpretations deducible from the said video clips from which other clerics also rendered in Hausa:

Gumi had in the video said that the FCT belongs to the North thus, the Ministerial slot should be the exclusive preserve of the Muslim North, adding that Muslims should not be comfortable with non-Muslims appointed to head the security agencies as they can’t be trusted to be fair to all groups.

The MBF noted that several other Muslim clerics have followed Sheik Gumi in spreading this vulgarity, saying that for the purposes of clarity, the Middle Belt Forum said the FCT was originally inhabited by the Gbagyi people who were dislodged from their ancestral lands by the Nigerian State to create the Federal Capital Territory that Gumi and his gang are now laying claim to.

“Wike is now the FCT Minister, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Gumi should be reminded that those who call for rain must remember that they, too, shall be wet when the rain finally falls”.

Dr. Bitrus specifically said that Gumi’s vulgarity was not just insulting the sensibilities of Nigerians, but a further display of the despicable arrogance associated with Gumi’s Fulani stock who have used state power to capture, manipulate and enthrone themselves over Nigeria and its resources.

The statement further stated; “As a Forum, we unambiguously condemn the messages contained in these trending video clips calling for the sack of Barr Nyesom Wike as the FCT Minister on account of his faith or where he hails from.

“That such calls are coming from Islamic preachers is unfortunate and reflective of a nebulous and subtle agenda aimed at enthroning a State Religion in Nigeria. God forbid! “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should not allow these religiously inflamed remarks by these preachers to go unprobed.

“Considering the roles Gumi played in promoting negotiation with agents of banditry and insurgency, he should be quickly reined in to checkmate his evil and capricious activities.

“As for the issue of the headship of security organisations, we all are mere survivors of the horrible results of the eight years of President Buhari when all security agencies were in the hands of Gumi’s Muslim stock. In the face of their grim failure whereby the entire North-west, North-east, and North-central zones became war zones and havens for kidnappers and criminal elements, it amounts to shameless drunkenness for Gumi to state that only Muslims have the capacity to deal fairly with all groups in the country.

“Indeed it is clear that Gumi and his band of followers are hell-bent on igniting the monster of bigotry in a nation that is already set on edge. Of course, they are not happy that the evil eight years of Muhamadu Buhari’s nepotism and religious discrimination are over.

“Our Muslim brothers, especially from the North, have always resisted the conduct of a census exercise to determine the actual number of people and their various religious/tribal inclinations in the North and in the Country at large.

“The National Population Commission has been frustrated by the likes of Gumi not to conduct any credible Census because of the lucrative advantage the so-called North has in the lopsided skewed figures currently deployed in the Nigerian structure that gives them undue advantage over other parts of Nigeria.

“Inflammatory statements like that of Gumi and his type will end if the Nation conducts a credible electronic census that will automatically RESTRUCTURE Nigeria. It is our firm belief that a viable Census will end the tribal/religious acrimony often utilised by characters like Gumi to intimidate other Nigerians when advancing sectional ideals,” it said.

The MBF also said that in times like this when the government is engaged in rescuing the country from the claws of insurgents and bandits, religiously divisive comments by preachers like Gumi are an attempt to throw the country into a religious war. The Forum therefore reiterated that every Nigerian, irrespective of religious and ethnic affiliations, should enjoy the right to be appointed into public office.

The MBF noted that it is characters like Gumi and his co-travellers that give oxygen to religious bigotry and endanger Nigeria’s unity.