Sheik Ahmad Gumi, a renowned Islamic scholar, issued a statement on Friday condemning the threat made by the federal government to censure media outlets for their coverage of the ongoing bandit attack across the country.
According to the Bendelnews, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has threatened to prosecute two media organisations, Trust TV and the BBC, over documentaries on banditry that were shown on their respective networks.
In response to the threat made by the federal government, Gumi issued a statement on Friday urging the media not to be intimidated or give in to official blackmail and to hold the government accountable at all times, especially in light of the fact that they have failed to protect both people's lives and their property.
Gumi, while praising local and international media organisations for their courage in reporting the extent of the insecurity in the Northern region, stated that what is happening in Nigeria, particularly in the North West as clearly captured by the BBC, is more of an ethnic war and reprisal killings and attacks due to the failure of the government to address well-documented instances of injustices that were initially done to Fulanis.
Gumi made this statement while also praising local and international media organisations for their boldness in reporting the extent
According to him, the intention of the government to blackmail media houses in order to cover up its failure and divert public scrutiny into high-level corruption in military spending and budgetary allocations has been exposed. This was done in order to cover up the fact that the government has failed.
Gumi asked, "What do you expect from a society (Fulani) that was left in total ignorance and lack of education, especially when their primary means of livelihood (cattle) has been completely rustled by other criminal elements within and outside our security agencies without any effort by the government to address the injustice?" He added that to this day, the practise of cattle rustling has not been stopped.
He claimed that he has well-documented evidence involving some security agents in which he personally intervened and that it involves some law-abiding Fulanis who fell victim to official extortion of their cows. He said that many law-abiding Fulanis had fallen victim to official extortion of their cows.
"How do you expect as a government to address insecurity especially related to Fulani bandits without addressing such instances of extortion and rustling?" he asked. "How do you expect to address insecurity especially related to Fulani bandits?"
According to him, the most alarming development that has taken place recently is the fact that terrorists affiliated with Boko Haram have infiltrated the Fulani bandits and that the bandits are progressively being indoctrinated into the religious beliefs and mission of Boko Haram.
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