My arrest had nothing to do with Mutallab – Gumi

Weekly Trust: In the statement you issued after your release, you said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was behind your detention. Could you elaborate on that? Sheikh Ahmad Gumi: I didn’t say Obasanjo specifically. I said the regime was behind my ordeal. They used state security apparatus to do that. Over time they were sending […]

Weekly Trust: In the statement you issued after your release, you said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was behind your detention. Could you elaborate on that?

Sheikh Ahmad Gumi: I didn’t say Obasanjo specifically. I said the regime was behind my ordeal. They used state security apparatus to do that. Over time they were sending security reports about me not only to the Saudi Arabian government but to other countries for God-knows-what reason. I had many encounters with security agencies during that regime.

There was a time security agents came and accused me of holding meetings by 3 am. I don’t know how that constitutes a crime. I think the problem started during the third term bid of Obasanjo. Some of us were against it and we never hid our feelings over the matter.  I think it was from then on that the security agencies started to compile reports about me, which they were sending to Saudi Arabia and other countries. It is unfortunate how state security apparatuses are used unjustly to hound innocent and law-abiding citizens.

I think as Nigeria celebrates her 50th anniversary, it is high time we decentralized the security system, especially the Nigerian police. I will support any president that will change the current security arrangement. I see no reason why we cannot have state police. Each state should have its own police as it is practised in America and other developed societies.   I know some people will say that the governors will abuse the state police, but it is easy to hold the state governors responsible if the state police commit crimes and injustice against an individual than the Federal Government. Take Plateau state, for example, where minorities have been massacred. With state police, you can hold the governor for genocide. We should copy the American example in terms of policing.

WT: Your release coincided with the visit of Vice- President Namadi Sambo to Saudi Arabia. Was the Federal Government behind your release?

Gumi: I will say many individuals in the government played different roles to have me released. Many things combined together for my eventual release.  But above all these, I think the prayers of the good people of Nigeria have gone a long way to see me out of detention.  You know that Saudi Arabia is a monarchy and it takes an average of six months to complete an investigation because of so many processes. After the investigation, it may still take you some time before you are charged to court or released. But Alhamdulillah I was treated very well by the Saudi authorities while in custody. In fact, officials were nice to me. They encouraged me to be patient and strong. They always assured me that I will soon be released since nothing was found against me. At this juncture I want to say that the facilities are some of the best in the world. They have made life easy for inmates in terms of infrastructure and social amenities. Human beings are treated like human beings, even while in prison. I have visited prisons in Nigeria. It is simply incomparable. Our prisons are not even fit for animal habitation.  I urge our leaders to visit Nigerian prisons and see things for themselves. Let them have a firsthand experience of the state of rot in the Nigerian prisons.

WT: Your arrest was linked to exchange of e-mail with Umar Farouk Muttalab, who was arrested in December last year for attempting to bomb an America-bound plane. Could you shed more light on this?

Gumi: The Mutallabs have been family friends for a very long time. Our houses are not far from each other’s in Kaduna. The young Mutallab used to ask me for advice. I remember there was even a time he asked me to help him look for admission. The issue was never about any linkage to Farouk.  It was just unfortunate that the chap got misguided by extremist groups. Remember that Farouk is widely travelled. I think some of these things have to do with contradictions between what chaps like Farouk see and observe with regard to how the West claim to champion human rights on the one hand and the connivance of the same West to deny other people their fundamental human rights that make people like  Farouk easy targets for extremist groups.

My arrest really has nothing to do with Farouk. I have been living in Saudi Arabia for well over 20 years and I have never run afoul of the law. I have never been associated with radicalism. Why are all these things now coming up now that I have started preaching in Kaduna?

WT: Is it true that part of the condition for your release is that you must relocate to Nigeria?

Gumi: No. That is not true. After their investigation, I was not found guilty. There was no case against me. I have not committed any crime. Why should I be asked to relocate? I have no connection to terrorism. I preach unity. Though I learnt that some people said I called for the killing of Shiites. I never called for the killing of Shiites. I was only against the blocking of roads while they are demonstrating, because it is wrong.  Other people also have the right to use the road too. I said Islam even encourages us to remove harmful things from the road. So, why should you block the road in the name of demonstration? Some members of the public may need to use the road because of emergency.

I am against radicalism but I know that a lot of people have prejudices against me.  Much as we may despise the West, there is something good about them. Some of these Western countries are freer and safer compared to the dictatorial tendencies of some Muslim countries. We don’t need to carry swords against anybody, even Israel. If we correct and conduct ourselves according to the teachings of the Qur’an, nobody can harm us.  If we are God-fearing, nobody can harm us. We need to educate ourselves about this. I will be coming to Nigeria in four months time or so, after the completion of Hajj.