Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), yesterday, berated a northern Islamic cleric, Abubakar Gumi, over his comments that allegedly undermine the security of the country and on the occupation of the office of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by a southerner and a Christian.

The Secretary-General of YCE, Oladipo Oyewole, and the Oyo State Chairman of CAN, Apostle Joshua Akinyemiju, in separate statements made available to The Guardian in Ibadan, carpeted the cleric for making inciting statements.

Oyo State Chairman of CAN, Apostle Akinyemiju, said: ‘’The cleric, Sheik Gumi, has continued to over flog the privilege of freedom of speech in Nigeria. He is fond of messing up the sensibilities of both successive governments in Nigeria and Nigerians. One cannot really understand how he has continued getting along without questioning in spite of a series of incendiary pronouncements from him.

‘’Government needs to caution him publicly or openly so that the youth or any other segment of the Nigerian society will not capitalise on any of his vituperations to tamper with the prevailing peace in the country. Promoting and maintaining peace and tranquility in any society should naturally be a task that must be done by all religious leaders’’.

In his reaction, Oyewole said: ‘’I have tapped into the ranting of the highly controversial Islamic scholar, Gumi. Gumi spoke out of lack of information and knowledge!

‘’Those of us in Nigeria before the January 15, 1966 coup d’état in Nigeria knew that Nigerian political leaders tolerated each other greatly and lived together in harmony until a section  of the country decided to destabilise the origin of the state of the nation as designed.

“Each region of the Federation was to develop on its own and contribute to the GDP at the centre! Either because of envy or out of mere ignorance, trouble was allowed to escalate to the level that there was anarchy in the Western Region.”

He added: ‘’The region was made ungovernable. Lives and properties were seriously hampered and endangered
The lives of women and their daughters were seriously exposed, impaired and their rights/privacy was trampled upon.

‘’Gumi is not correct because the records are there to prove how poor management and fear of the unknown caused some people to destroy the fundamental principle of allowing for growth!

The council advised that historical accounts, for the well-being; growth and welfare of Nigeria, should be adequately and correctly rendered for posterity.

“Only the truth will allow a nation to make progress. Gumi, a proven associate of the operatives of Boko Haram, should keep quiet. Nigeria is greater than all of these. Therefore, Nigeria must and will rise again,’’ he added.