There were indications yesterday that the Department of State Service (DSS) may soon arrest Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, and others following revelations in the ongoing probe of terrorists’ negotiator, Tukur Mamu, Leadership reports.
This is coming amid calls from different quarters for the DSS to arrest and investigate Gumi over his utterances about the arrest of Mamu, his media consultant.
This is even as the director general of DSS, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, has said the secret police will go after all subversive elements creating problems in Nigeria.
The director-general of the DSS, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, stated this in Abuja while marking the end of his first term and the beginning of his second term as the head of the secret service.
The DSS boss said the Service is already compiling dossiers of those creating tension and threatening the peaceful co-existence of Nigeria and would soon clampdown on them.
More so, a DSS source disclosed that Gumi has been going around preaching against the arrest and detention of Mamu, a development, he said, could make him a person of interest.
The source who did not want his name in print wondered why “Mamu who is a close associate of Gumi was found with $151,000, military accoutrements, gun magazines and other incriminating items and yet Gumi is talking about his release instead of allowing justice take its cause”.
Also, a civil society organisation, the Coalition for Peace in Nigeria (COPIN) called on the Service to, as a matter of urgent national importance, investigate and possibly arrest Gumi over alleged romance with bandits/terrorists.
“This is more so that Mamu, the bandits’ negotiator, is the undisputed spokesperson for the Kaduna-based influential Islamic cleric,” the group said.
In a statement jointly signed by the national coordinator of COPIN, Pharmacist Emeka Akwuobi, and national secretary, Hajiya Fatih Yakub, the peace advocacy group said Gumi has a lot of explanations to offer on the activities of bandits, especially those operating within the North West general area.
According to COPIN, Gumi should ordinarily be a person of interest, considering his open fraternity with bandits and kidnappers threatening national security, as well as his persistent call on the federal government to grant the terror elements amnesty.
The group further noted that the arrest of Gumi is fundamental to a peaceful election, considering the fact that he will provide the Service with credible/actionable intelligence on the actual locations and modus operandi of the terrorists, culminating in their arrest.
The group threatened to organise a peaceful protest in Abuja and other cities should the intelligence agency fail to invite Gumi for interrogation.
The statement reads in part: “We have watched with keen interest the provocative tendencies of Sheikh Gumi, especially as they relate to the activities of bandits/terrorists operating within the the North West general area.
“We note, with concern, Gumi’s call for grant of amnesty to terrorists, who have killed and maimed thousands of unarmed civilians, including women and children.
“Of particular interest is the kidnap of over one hundred Abuja/Kaduna train passengers by the terrorists in April this year, many of whom are still being held under terrible conditions.
“As a peace advocacy group, we condemn all these evil acts perpetrated by the terror group, and other enemies of state operating under whatever name, as we insist that nobody, or group has the right to take arms against the State, regardless of their grievances.
“Consequently, we demand the immediate arrest and interrogation of Gumi who, by now, should be a person of interest to all intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
“We will not hesitate to mobilise for peaceful protests in strategic cities, including Abuja, if the DSS fail to invite the Islamic Cleric for interview on all he knows about bandits/terrorists holding the North West states, and parts of North Central, to ransom.”
Recalls that Mamu had been leading the negotiation with bandits for the release of the Abuja-Kaduna train passengers the terrorists kidnapped in March.
The terrorist negotiator was arrested on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, with his two wives at Cairo International Airport while awaiting a connecting flight to Saudi Arabia for lesser Hajj.
They were deported to Nigeria and the DSS operatives picked them up on arrival at the Aminu Kano International Airport.
Following his arrest, the DSS raided his residence where military uniforms and a large stash of foreign currencies and denominations were allegedly found.
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