Influential moderate Islamic preacher, Sheikh
Ahmad Abubakar Gumi has advised former
military Head of State, General Muhammadu
Buhari to forgo his presidential ambition for
the peace and political stability of Nigeria.
In an open letter addressed to the retired
General on Tuesday, Sheikh Gumi hailed
Buhari for his humility, excellent record in
public service and tough stance against
corruption but hinged his advice on the former
soldier’s inability to control his supporters,
describing it as his point of weakness.
Gumi ended the letter by alerting Buhari of a
plot to use him to truncate the current
democratic dispensation just like he was used
to overthrow the civilian government of Shehu
Shagari in 1983.
The full text of his letter reads:
“Assalamu Alaikum
The Humble People’s General.
I know I have access to your privy but this is
meant for others to learn also.
The prophet -peace be upon him- told one of
the most honest and truthful of his
companions Abu Zar Algafary: “oh Abu Zar, I
truly love for you what I love for myself. I
indeed see that you are weak so never accept
to lead even two people and never accept
safekeeping of the orphans wealth’
An honest and candid advice from the prophet
that is still valid today for any leader whose
weakness borders on leadership qualities.
The reason for Abu Zar’s weakness has
nothing to do with his credibility or
truthfulness. Never! The prophet was narrated
as saying: “there is nobody under the
shadows of trees or bare sun that is more
honest in speech than Abu Zar.”
Abu Zar – May Allah be pleased with him- is
ascetic and inmaterialistic. Abu Zar is
incorruptible. And yet he is not suitable for
leadership.
I am not claiming to be even by an atom’s
weight anything close to our noble prophet,
yet I am encouraged to give you this same
advice by the virtue that you are not also
close to Abu Zar in piety. We are living in a
time of great tribulations and fitnah especially
for this Ummah because of our collective
iniquities, ignorance of religious instructions
and the love of Dunyah.
Sir, your weakness is not in your past
impeccable record of accountability of public
wealth and the fight against corruption and
indiscipline. Your weakness is in your inability
to control men compounded further by your
strict and obsessive rejection of corruption.
Don’t be surprised. You may need to
understand that Islam being a pragmatic
religion allows the use of Zakkat and public
wealth as an instrument to pacify and lure
influential people for the sake of
righteousness, peace and stability. In modern
governance today it translates into the
security vote.
Thus men are also controlled by money. So if
your policy of governance is ostensibly
centered on sealing tight the use of money
you will have great problem with men. An
Arab poet said: “a fool cannot be the leader of
his people but the true leader of the people
must feign foolishness”.
It’s convenient for your ardent supporters to
quote copiously from the annals of history
your great achievements but when your
failures and weaknesses were pointed out
they say that was in the past. Are the lessons
of past history only good for the positive
achievements? Doesn’t that also explain our
incessant failures?
Your Excellency, good intentions are never
enough. In the past, because of your clean
records and straightforwardness you were
lured by men who want only the vanities
Dunya to uproot a young democracy on the
caprices of fighting corruption. Corruption is
no doubt an evil but there is a more
monstrous evil than corruption. That is
turmoil and insecurity. Peace and stability are
the most important part of governance that
no price is too high for them.
The lack of peace, stability and security is the
major predicament of this nation since
independence. So when you were naively used
by men to derail one, that is the greatest
disservice you committed to the nation the ills
of which we are yet to recover from. Do you
truly believe Allah is still not in cognizance of
that? You were lead to uproot a duly elected
leader and incarcerated him for close to two
years knowing fully well that he has no charge
of even the corruption that was labeled
against him. Yes, Shagari was the leader and
therefore he bears all the responsibility of
misdeeds in his government, so also you were
a leader and you should bear all the
responsibility of derailing the peace and
stability of governance in this country as a
consequence of that putsch.
You weakness in control of men became
evident when the very people that used you to
revolt against a constituted authority came
back to uproot you from the seat of power.
Your own kinsmen without a gun cocked in
your defense. Today the corruption you were
deceived to fight against has reached
unimaginable level coupled with the worst
state of insecurity and peace in the nation.
There was just recently an attempt on your
life like many of us.
All this because you the honest people that
are given the privilege of strengthening the
Armed forces left it to meddle in politics. We
thus lost everything. Neither the power nor
the security.
A believer is not stung from the same hole
twice. Men used your innocence before to get
power and dump you. Please be sensible
today. Some other men still want to use you
to get power and surely they will dump you
again. You don’t share the same philosophy
at all. Even though as I explained later, your
obsession and philosophy of fighting
corruption is not the priority of Nigeria today.
What Nigeria needs utmost now is peace and
stability. This can only be achieved when the
religious ethnic and regional divide is tamed.
And you can only tame it with people without
much precedence. People without much
following. Yet people that are constructive
and have the ability to control men.
If Sardauna today is alive in your situation he
will never contest for the presidential seat
because of his deep understanding of what
the nation needs. He will step down for a
more acceptable younger person. It’s on
record that Sardauna even at the age of under
60 said he was not going to contest again
preparing his only house in Rabah for
retirement.
I’ll give you a similitude to buttress my point
of priority. A person seriously injured and
fractured from a road traffic accident when
brought to the emergency room, the first
priority of the doctors is to secure an
intravenous line. Meaning get a drip set
working into his veins to protect his vital
organs like the heart and kidneys from the
effects of shock and loss of blood. The
fractures even though serious and the source
of the blood loss may take days and weeks
before they are even attended to beside the
superficial dressings.
Nigeria now needs peace and stability first.
Then we talk of good governance later even
though it’s the source of the predicament we
are facing.
The present government has already charged
the situation and played the religious divide to
its advantage. It’s in circulation now, a SW
pastor calling on Christians and the church to
vote Jonathan as their only Savior. This
religious card will be used to cover for his
deficiency in governance.
Your Excellency, you should understand too,
that many if not most of your supporters are
also looking up to you to protect them from
the onslaught on their religion and region.
This also the Christian will never believe the
otherwise. Therefore the stage is set for
religious confrontation which is the least the
nation needs.
What we need as a priority is peace and
stability.
From my view if APC can support as an
example Ameachi or Okorocha/Kwankwaso or
El-rufai or Tambuwal ticket and the PDC will
have Akpabio/Muazu or Ribadu or Shekarau,
the next four years will. – insha Allah –
witness stability both in the north and south.
And the electoral body will get the necessary
infrastructure that subsequently the next
election will be free and fair and the true
reflection of Nigerians.
If you may ask, why can’t this same peace be
achieved with you and another Christian
running mate?
Gen. you have antagonist, and they are many
and also as ardent as your supporters. Your
supporters have the biggest proportion of the
underprivileged of the society which is the
petrol that can be easily ignited by the
slightest spark. The spark will be when you’re
declared the loser. And you know you can very
well lose if the Christians follow their church -
and why not in this era of mediocrity.
On the other hand if Jonathan comes back.
BH will be real not the political one we see.
The turmoil will engulf the whole country not
only the north. That is why I also call on PDP
to present some other candidates.
My Brother in Islam, please listen to the words
of wisdom. And don’t follow the whims of the
riff raff. Before they used you the first time to
disrupt the second republic, my father advised
you against it. Today I am also advising you
against contesting in the 2015 presidential
elections because you will be used to ignite
the nation -a dream well orchestrated several
years ago- and also be used by bad people
as a ladder to grab regional and local powers.
I rest my case here.
My best regards and condolence to your
recent loss.
May Allah guide you and protect you from the
evil men and the jinn. Amin.
Ahmad Abubakar Mahmud Gumi.”
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