In response to the comments made by the Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, against the Nigerian government and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and that it was dangerous to entrust Nigeria’s national security to the hands of Christians and Southerners, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) have said the Nigerian Capital, Abuja, was built with crude oil fund and doesn’t belong to northerners.

PANDEF, in its statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr Ken Robinson, also noted that the Islamic cleric's comment was an indirect poke on the Niger Delta and the South-South regions of the country.

It would be recalled that Gumi had on Thursday, October 19, posted a video sermon of over 14 minutes on his official Facebook page, wherein he labelled Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT, as "Satan" for receiving the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria in his office, and also threatened that President Bola Tinubu would be stopped from serving for eight years.

According to PANDEF, it was unfortunate that at a time when every well-meaning Nigerian should be concerned about the stability, peace, and unity of the country, “the likes of Sheikh Gumi are further stoking the ambers of discord, certainly, intended to exacerbate tension in the country" and that it is utterly despicable that a cleric would fashion himself into “a promoter of parochialism and acrimony," the Forum stated 

Part of the statement reads: “Perhaps, it is necessary to underscore some unadorned facts Sheikh Gumi is pretending to overlook; Abuja is the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria and not a sectional capital; more so, it (FCT) was developed and continues to be developed with, mainly, the oil and gas resources of the Niger Delta region, where Nyesom Wike comes from.

“It is commonly known that crude oil was swapped instead of payment to contractors in building the infrastructure in Abuja, including the Aso Rock Villa. At that time, no one talked of Abuja belonging to any particular ethnic group.

“In fact, from the administration of Shehu Shagari up until the General Babangida regime, the federal government encouraged all citizens, no matter where they come from, to acquire and develop property in the Federal Capital Territory, because Abuja belongs to all Nigerians."

The Forum in its statement also noted that the infrastructural development of the FCT opened the eyes of youths in the Niger Delta region to demand for a fair share of the oil due to the underdevelopment of their region and that, on the FCT, Wike, among 17 ministers sworn-in so far, was the second from the south to occupy the FCT minister position.

“We recall that our youths came to Abuja in l998 for a so-called 2 Million Man March in support of the self-succession bid of General Sani Abacha, and saw how resources from their land were being used in building bridges, roads, and amazing structures, whereas their communities, meshed in an environment ravished and degraded by oil and gas exploration activities, are deprived of such ‘wonders’.

“The contradictions the youths saw, provoked renewed agitations in the Niger Delta leading to the ‘Kaiama Declaration’ for Resource Control and Justice, in December 1998, and the subsequent crisis in the region.

“Suffice it to state that any Nigerian; from the North, South, East, or West, could and should, be appointed to serve as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“Remarkably, Nyesom Wike is the 17th Minister of the FCT, but only the second Southerner to be appointed in 47 years, since the creation of the FCT. The first Southerner, and the very first Minister of the FCT, for that matter, was Mobolaji Ajose-Adeogun, who recently passed on at 96; he served as FCT Minister between 1976 and 1979, under the military regime of General Obasanjo. The other 15 past Ministers of the FCT are all persons of northern extraction. The records are there for all to see.

“Ironically, a Northerner, and one of the founding architects of this country, Musa Yar’Adua, father of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, served as the Minister of Lagos Affairs during the First Republic from 1963 until the military truncated the First Republic in 1966. Nobody complained then,” PANDEF noted.

In similar vein, the apex socio-cultural organization representing the Igbo people, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, through its Secretary General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, on Sunday, also vehemently condemned Gumi's inflammatory statements which it said "are not only baseless but also dangerous to the unity and stability of our great nation."

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