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General Buhari and Sheikh Gumi By I have recently been reading the biography of Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, titled Where I stand. It was a most interesting reading. For me, one of the legitimate complaints of the Hausa/Fulani Moslem North is that the South (particularly we Yorubas) make little or no attempt to understand their viewpoints on political and social issues before criticising them as retrogressive, feudal, hegemonic, etc. Even though one may assume that the complaint itself is misplaced since it is the responsibility of persons or groups to articulate their points of view and not wait for others to seek them out but then, I have decided to do something about it on my own. In recent times, I have read two autobiographies of late Sultan Siddiq Abubakar III, the 17th Sultan of Sokoto by Jean Boyd and Alhaji Shehu Malami, the biography of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna, by John Paden and the Northern perspectives on the January 1966 Nzeogwu/Ifeajuna coup as given by Mainasara and Muffet in their various books. I have just begun to read Alhaji Shehu Shagari's "Beckoned to Serve". At the very least, any one who has read the above books would for instance understand the Northern view and passion about Sharia and would certainly identify with President Obasanjo's approach to resolving (or not resolving) the Sharia problem. Appreciating or understanding a point of view does not mean acceptance of same and I certainly do not agree that a modern system of law, democracy and constitutional government is consistent with wholesale adoption of Sharia, especially in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society like Nigeria. Indeed, my conviction that a constitutional order is the only sustainable basis for organising a country like Nigeria may indeed have been strengthened by exposure to a contrary viewpoint which I believe suffers from too many inherent contradictions. But that is another matter for a subsequent write-up. The particular focus of this article is slightly different. Towards the end of Sheikh Gumi's book, he wrote about past Nigerian leaders. He was obviously close to and shared great affection for the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello who was his clear favourite. The next in line was clearly General Murtala Mohammed. He appears to have hoped that these two great leaders would use the pedestals of office to achieve a more (Islamic) religious social and political order. His eternal regret, if any, appeared to be the unexpected death of the two. Sheikh Gumi blatantly refused to carry out General Ironsi's request to join a tour of Middle-East countries to explain the events of 1966. He seemed to like General Gowon whom he regarded as polished and sensitive "although he himself was a Christian". Sheikh Gumi had what appeared to be easy access and an amicable relationship with General Obasanjo but deeply regretted that Obasanjo did not "make good, General Murtala's plans to incorporate religion into the people's lives". The rest of us Nigerians were of course blissfully unaware of these plans, apparently agreed to between Gumi and Murtala. President Shagari was the Sheikh's childhood friend but an earlier affinity (based partly from joint youthful radicalism) appears to have petered out as Shagari got deeper into the games of power. The Sheikh also revealed varying degrees of positive disposition towards persons like MKO Abiola, Folawiyo, Babangida, Adamu Ciroma and Co. It is his views about General Buhari that surprised me! Persons familiar with perhaps the last controversy involving Gumi would have jumped to some conclusions about this article upon seeing the title. Sheikh Gumi was reported to have made three controversial statements one, that Christianity is nothing (which he attempted in my view, to no avail, to explain in his book), two, that the Moslems must always rule this country and three, that women could never be permitted to rule (or words to the same effect). The controversy over these statements particularly that on the exclusive perpetual rule by Moslems in Nigeria, was intense. General Buhari has recently been reported to have made a similar statement. He is said to have advised Moslems to, come 2003, ensure they vote massively for a Moslems as President in order to promote the religion of Islam. He was reported to have enjoined all those present to pass word around to the same effect. So, what were the views of Sheikh Gumi on the angry General? Let's quote directly from the Sheikh. "In time, the new Government got settled, but the mass detentions continued. People of all categories were being detained, including businessmen, leaders of organisations and other officials... It was in the midst of this that one day, General Buhari visited Kaduna for a certain function... I requested him to reconsider the case of the detainees. I stated to him categorically that I did not condone corruption, but neither did I think justice was being done if it was delayed. The detainees should therefore be tried immediately.... A family man who was detained for a long time without trial did not just serve his detention alone, but with all members of his family and dependants... he listened to me silently and when I stopped, he admitted that his government had indeed stepped on many toes. However, he assured me that he had all the Armed Forces behind him, it was only the Police he was not sure about... Shortly after this, the infamous (Sheikh Gumi's words, please note) trials of the detainees began. Again, I sent my objections to General Buhari. I thought it was making a mockery of justice and the law to send a 50-year-old man to jail for a hundred or more years... while this was going on, the Government passed another law which made it a capital office to deal in drugs. The law was immediately back-dated so that a couple of men who had been convicted in Lagos and were waiting to be sentenced were summarily executed. Pressmen came to my house on the matter and I told them what happened was not just. I was then asked what should happen now that the men had already been executed. I replied that if I had the power, I would ask those who authorised the killings to be killed also in accordance with the law.... Not long after this incident... the President sounded a note of warning to religious leaders who were interfering in the affairs of government. He made it clear that government would not continue to tolerate that... I then publicly voiced my regret that a Moslem, and a Head of State at that, should be proud of an action which he committed and which he knew was against God's wishes. I prayed that God should guide us so that we would know our limits". It was very clear from the book that Sheikh Gumi regarded Buhari as irreligious, unjust, arrogant, wicked and a bad Moslem leader. Indeed, Sheikh Gumi publicly passed the nearest equivalent of a religious Fatwa on the General as shown above. Within weeks, Sheikh Gumi's passport was seized, his house was searched, his salary (as consulting Grand Khadi for all northern states) stopped and in April 1985, he was retired under orders of General Buhari's regime.
The writer chooses to use a pen name
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