* It’s not true, cleric claims
There were reasons on Thursday to believe that the Department of State Service (DSS) invited Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi for questioning in connection with remarks he made in a TV interview that allegedly portrays the Nigerian military in bad light.
A report by the Voice of America, VOA, Hausa service, claimed that Gumi was invited to the Kaduna office of the DSS.
Gumi had insinuated that military operatives were conniving with bandits.
But Gumi’s spokesperson, Malam Tukur Mamu, in an interview with VOA Hausa, dismissed the allegation against Gumi, saying there was nowhere in the TV interview where Gumi categorically accused the entire military.
According to Mamu, what Gumi said was what people have been saying and ”even the soldiers have been saying that there could be some bad eggs among them.”
He, therefore, urged the military and the TV company to apologize to Sheihk Gumi and retract their statements against him, failing which he would seek redress in the court of law.
Also, the vocal cleric personally denied the media report that he was invited by the State Security Service (SSS) on Friday.
Gumi said he was neither arrested nor invited for interrogation by the secret security agency.
“I am having non-stop calls from all over the globe asking whether I was interrogated or detained by the DSS. Let it be clear. Nothing of that happened,” the cleric posted on his Facebook page.
Gumi, a retired military officer and critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, has been advocating an amnesty for armed bandits terrorising the Northwest and North-central states of Nigeria.
He appeared on Arise News TV during the week and accused security personnel of arming and colluding with the bandits. This elicited calls by Nigerians on social media for his arrest.
“I have a good working relationship with all the security outfits, and I didn’t meet any bandit in the forests we visited without the presence of the security men, state officials, representatives of traditional rulers, and Fulani Ardos,” Gumi said.
Yet the DSS said its operatives at the Kaduna office invited Gumi for questioning, to aid an ongoing investigation.
The Service, however, said the Islamic cleric was released after interacting with the operatives.
DSS spokesman, Peter Afunnaya, reportedly said: “It’s not out of place for the Service to invite any person of interest.”
Afunnaya, however, did not give details of the investigation Gumi was invited to aid. But it is believed that his invitation was not unconnected with his recent open allegation that the Nigerian military collude with the bandits terrorising many parts of the country.