The Kaduna State based Islamic scholar, Sheik Ahmed Gumi, has explained why he attended the reconciliation meeting between former president Olusegun Obasanjo and his estranged former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
Gumi, in a chat with Daily Trust on Sunday in his house in Kaduna, said he acted true to Islamic injunctions by making himself available to a process meant to ensure peace.
He said, “It was the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad that whenever you are invited for a peace or reconciliation meeting even between Muslim and non-Muslim, the Prophet said you should attend it because Islam is concerned about Peace.
“The Qur’an said any consultation or any conference that doesn’t address charity or doesn’t encourage reconciliation between people is not good. So Allah is encouraging us to reconcile people and that is exactly what happened.
“So I took it as not a political move but a peaceful move and seeing leaders coming together trying to forgive each other and I’m very happy about that.”
The cleric said he was invited because they wanted people or clergy from Islamic and Christian faiths that are non-partisan that are known to be telling only the truth the way it is and he was selected. On what he told the two leaders, Gumi said he advised them they have to learn to forgive, forget and face the future.
“These are the four Fs we told them. They don’t have to come back and swallow back their vomit. We emphasized on that and we showed them the importance of uniting and they must stay away from disintegration,” he said.
He maintained that the reconciliation is good in a nation with diverse groups like Nigeria.
“On their own political side it has to do with 2019 and it has to do with politics as I was made to understand, but on my side, any move that prevents unity I’m against it,” he said. Gumi said he was not bothered by the controversy the meeting generated.
He said, “I’m not bothered at all because I know that some people in Nigeria, the only thing they know is abusing and criticising. We are in hunger and in a terrible situation but they have nothing to offer except abuses”.
