You’re milking Nigerians, Islamic scholar, Gumi, tells politicians

• Deplores flamboyance at Yusuf Buhari’s wedding. • Yahaya, Goje polarise Gombe APC

Northern Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has criticised politicians who displayed opulence amid abject poverty in the country during the wedding of President Muhammadu Buhari’s son, Yusuf, in Kano State.

He said the leaders, just like bandits, milk Nigerians to live life of opulence, wondering where they got all the money they displayed at the wedding, if not from public purse.

At the weekend, Yusuf Buhari married Zarah Bayero, the daughter of Emir of Bichi, Nasiru Bayero, in a grand ceremony held in Bichi, Kano.

Dignitaries at the event included Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, serving and former governors, traditional rulers, as well as prominent personalities from within and outside the country.

However, while preaching at the Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna, at the weekend, Gumi faulted Nigerian politicians for hiring private jets to attend the wedding.

“Umar bn Kattab once took 16 dinar, which is equivalent of N2,040,000 today, from the treasury as estacode to Hajj. After their return, Umar admitted to Abdallah that they wasted public funds. Somebody told me private jets in Nigeria were all hired for the wedding of Buhari’s son.

“Some people are in captivity in the bushes and cities. Hunger is everywhere. People are facing all manner of problems, yet politicians spent public funds on private jets,” he said.

IN another development, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gombe State has been polarised along the factions led by Governor Muhammad Yahaya and Senator Danjuma Goje.

The governor was Goje’s political son, as he was appointed as commissioner during Goje’s reign as governor. Recently, the duo have fallen apart, as many loyalists of the governor never minced words at any opportunity to vent their displeasure with Goje representing Gombe Central. They described Goje as an insatiable and greedy politician that refused to quit the scene, even in the face of obvious non-performance.

On Saturday, at political rallies in Yemaltu-Deba and Sidi, in Kwami Local Council where about 100 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defectors were received into the APC fold, the governor, through his deputy, Dr. Manassah Jattau, urged all willing to dump APC to do so but without disparaging it.

Also, yesterday, at Yemaltu-Deba, prominent APC politicians gathered to pass vote of confidence in Yahaya and his government.