Popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has reacted to the Nigerian Army statement warning him not to portray the institution in bad light.
He said he was not referring to the present-day Nigerian Army in his claim that soldiers were being deployed along religious lines.
Recall that a video had circulated showing Sheikh Gumi telling some bandits that non-Muslim soldiers were responsible for the attacks against them.
Reacting to the video in a Monday statement, Director of Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Yerima said the Army does not deploy its troops along ethnic or religious lines in the ongoing operations in dealing with terrorism, banditry, and other security challenges confronting the nation.
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Yerima urged the cleric to exercise restraint not to drag the image and reputation of the Nigerian Army to disrepute.
But reacting to the Army’s statement, Sheikh Gumi told BBC Pidgin that he was referring to the Army of yesteryears.
“I saw what the army said. What I will say is that there is a misunderstanding in the issues. When I speak about the religious issue in the army, I’m not referring to today’s army.
“The issue is from 2010-2015 when some people who were in charge of the army and when a lot of bad things happened.
“It was during that time, bombings happened everywhere. It happened in Jaji and we lost a popular Muslim general and it was God that saved me because they planted a bomb on me,” Sheikh Gumi said.