Hailing US military operations on Nigerian soil is misunderstanding implications for national security – Sheikh Gummi
*Says not even by Trump whose hands are ‘bloodstained’
By KEMI KASUMU
Gummi then addressed citizens who had welcomed the strikes, describing such reactions as a misunderstanding of the implications for national security.
Islamic cleric and medical doctor Sheikh Ahmed Gummi has reportedly called the “stupid” Nigerians, who praise the ceding of Nigeria’s internal security challenges management to United States, which made itself clear that its airstrikes were carried out for the protection of Christians in the multi-religious society, describing their support as misguided.
The airstrikes, said to have been conducted alongside Nigeria’s approval, targeted ISWAP‑linked militant camps in Sokoto State’s communities of Jabo, Tambuwal Local Government and Tangaza Local Government areas.
However, residents and critics said the Trump administration bombed only empty farm land in Jabo where no cases of insecurity have ever been recorded over the years and that, even Tangaza, where Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal confirmed has been noticed to have an enclave of bandits since his days as governor, bandits were seen running away without evidence of any body shattered by bomb as claimed by Nigeria and America.
While evidence of bombs hitting empty farmland in Sokoto and residential buildings in Offa Kwara states have continued to be the only thing seen since the aftermath of the US bombing of terrorists, the Tinubu administration has been accused by critics who said it left the information that Nigerians required to the president’s and ALL Progressives Congress (APC) supporters who presented unconfirmed news of most wanted Bello Turji and other terrorists to the yawning public with videos clearly unrepresentative of the truth of the military operations sites.
Officials said the operations were precision attacks based on intelligence shared by Abuja, aimed at weakening insurgent networks.
Gummi criticised the Nigerian government for allowing foreign military involvement and called for it to demand the withdrawal of US forces.
His position has also been supported by Amnesty International Nigeria and a coalition of other civil society organisations under the platform of Nigerian Joint Civil Society Action and leaders, who raised “grave concern and deep alarm” over the United States of America’s airstrikes carried out Christmas Day on Nigerian territory.
The groups said it was “apparent that Nigeria is in a dual crisis of leadership and security,” adding that “at the heart of this crisis is the apparent abdication by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of his constitutional role as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.”
According to the statement, “by inviting a foreign government to manage what is fundamentally an internal security challenge, the President ceded sovereign authority in a manner that undermines Nigeria’s constitutional order.”
In a strongly worded conclusion, the coalition said the continued silence of the President, the Service Chiefs and the National Assembly was “wholly unacceptable,” adding that if Nigeria’s leadership had concluded that it lacked “the capacity or will to manage Nigeria’s internal security challenges within the bounds of the Constitution and would rather cede such authority to a foreign power,” then “constitutional responsibility and democratic integrity demand that they resign.”
In the Gummi’s statement, he said, “The Nigeria government should call the attention of the ambassadors concerned to immediately withdraw the US military intervention on Nigeria insurgency fight.”
He then addressed citizens who had welcomed the strikes, describing such reactions as a misunderstanding of the implications for national security.
“This is nothing but a betrayal of our Nigerians. Some people will be saying that since we cannot end the insecurity and we have United States government intervention, why don’t we gladly accept the help?” he said in a video.
“There are stupid people whose thinking faculty is very small; they are the ones who will think so.”
“This person (US President Donald Trump) must be stopped and chased out. This is a person that has his hands stained with the blood of children and adults,” he said.
“How can you call for assistance from a thief when they enter your house?”
In a statement titled ‘The Symbolism of the US Strike,’ posted on his Facebook page last week, Gumi said Nigeria had made a strategic error by allowing cooperation with the United States, insisting that “terrorists don’t fight terrorists in truth; they may only kill innocent people and have ulterior motives behind the drama of fighting ‘terror.’”
He further stated that no country should allow its territory to become a battleground or permit its neighbours to become enemies, warning that foreign military presence often comes with hidden agendas.
“If Nigeria wants military assistance, China, Turkey, and Pakistan can do the job effectively,” he said, adding that U.S. involvement would “attract the real anti-US forces, making our land the theatre of war.”
Gummi also cautioned that American intervention under the guise of protecting Christians could deepen religious divisions and undermine national sovereignty.
