The recent comments by Sheikh Abubakar Gumi on the person and office of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and immediate past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has been criticised as irresponsible, absurd, and subversive by the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF).
National Publicity Secretary of PANDEF, Ken Robinson, in a statement, said it was unfortunate Gumi and his likes would stoke disunity at the time Nigeria is in dire need of peace.
He stressed that any Nigerian could be appointed as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), warning that the Muslim cleric should stop being a promoter of hatred.
PANDEF expressed: ‘It is most 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. It’s utterly despicable that a so-called cleric would fashion himself into a shameless promoter of parochialism and acrimony.
‘We consider the call for the removal of Chief Nyesom Wike as Minister of FCT, and indeed, any other Niger Deltan, based on wild predispositions, as an indirect poke at the people of the Niger Delta region, and the South-South geopolitical zone, in particular, to catechize our stake in the Nigerian State.
‘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.
‘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).’
PANDEF recalled that 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.
According to PANDEF, the other 15 past ministers of the FCT were persons of northern extraction, which could be verified.
PANDEF continued: ‘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.
‘We commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his patriotism and political will in appointing a Southerner, the former Governor of Rivers State, as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory after over four decades.
‘It is needful that all patriots and true lovers of the nation, particularly of northern extraction, without equivocation, denounce the dangerous diatribes of Sheikh Gumi and those of his likes, in the national interest.’
PANDEF wondered why the nation’s security agencies have not arrested the cleric for his subversive annotations and numerous ‘delinquencies.’