Controversial Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi, has told President Donald Trump not to eliminate terrorists in Nigeria who are maiming, killing, and kidnapping innocent people for ransom by force.
Last Friday, Trump designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over alleged Christian genocide and went further to threaten invasion of Nigeria to eliminate terrorists killing Christians and even impose sanctions.
But Sheikh Gumi said the terrorists are “listening and reasonable human beings” who should be pacified.
Speaking in an interview with VOP TV, the Islamic cleric said: “Myself, I’ve been trying to see how we can pacify these people (terrorists) and redirect them because they are human beings.
“They listen and reason But if you say you want to use force against force, then you will compound the problem and make the thing dirty.”
Gumi said there is no way the U.S. military could defeat terrorists and bandits terrorising Nigeria because they have failed to do so in Afghanistan and Syria.
According to him: “If they (the U.S. military) can cure and eliminate the terrorists, I will welcome them. But I know they cannot. They have fought for 20 years in Afghanistan, but they could not finish them. In Syria now, it is the same thing.
“These terrorists you see, it is not easy to come and drop bombs here and there and think you will finish them, because they have infiltrated the society. It is going to cause more damage. More Muslims and Christians will be killed if America drops a bomb in Nigeria.”
