President Buhari Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has taken a swipe at the controversial Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, over the latter’s comment that military onslaught would worsen banditry in Nigeria.
Adesina, in an article on his Facebook wall on Thursday titled, “I like this pampering. Don’t you?,” made a cryptic reference to Gumi as a “bandit-lover”.
He quoted the cleric’s statement verbatim, noting that Gumi’s position on the military bombardment of the bandits is “false”.
Gumi, on Monday, asked the Nigerian government to grant amnesty to bandits like it gave to Niger Delta militants.
In a Facebook post, titled, ‘Zamfara: The flaring crisis’, the Islamic cleric had said, “Let us face the reality, these herdsmen are going nowhere, and they are already in battle gear, and we know our Military very well, so before things get messy, we need cold brains to handle this delicate situation.”
Reacting, in his article, Adesina said bandits are going to hell fire.
He wrote, “Before they got to this sorry pass, they had the chance to turn a new leaf. Zamfara, Katsina, and many other states offered dialogue. The governments tried to negotiate with them. But they were contumacious.
“Like dogs fated for destruction, they refused to hear the hunters’ whistle. They filled the land with sorrow, tears, and blood, ‘dem regular trademark’ (as Fela Anikulapo-Kuti would say). Now, the shoe is on the other foot.
“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.”
