Popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi says he feels pity for President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor.
He said this in an article titled, “Let Us Pity The Next President” published in The Punch on Tuesday.
The cleric said Nigeria’s situation was so dire that it was akin to suffering “leprosy, diabetes, and HIV/AIDs; all in one body”.
“In the case of leprosy, which is a disease that attacks the sensory nervous system, the brain is unaware of the suffering of the extremities.
“The presidency, which represents the brain, is not getting the true picture of the grassroots suffering and the excruciating poverty breaking the masses because the feedback system is attacked by corruption, wickedness, and immorality.
“The president has to be careful of the dishonest clergy. Like mosquitoes, they feed on every system without adding any values except polarising the nation more on the religious divide.
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“I cannot imagine a nation facing insurgencies left, right, and centre, yet the clergy would fold their arms without intermediating to see for conflict resolutions. Rather they are busy fuelling religious polarisation,” Sheikh Gumi said.
According to Gumi, the recent BBC documentary and that of Daily Trust on insecurity in the North have exposed the ethnic and tribal undertones of the menace that has riddled the north-western part of the country.
“If the next president also follows the same trajectory, thinking that the present government was only dealing with the criminals with kid gloves, then a greater insurgency will definitely ensue,” the Islamic cleric warned.
Gumi noted that only a politician with national appeal would succeed in uniting the country, urging Nigerians to shun regional or sectional politicians in 2023.