Why DSS Hasn’t Arrested Sheikh Gumi – Ex-Director

The former Director of the Department of State Service, Mike Ejiofor, on Wednesday revealed why the secret police have not arrested Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi.

Ejiofor in an interview with Punch said, “If you go and arrest him, you are going to provoke his supporters or the people he is working for and if you don’t arrest him, people will say why has he not been arrested as other people who acted, in the same manner, have been arrested? So, it becomes a very dicey situation that needs to be handled with care.”

He condemned the cleric for openly asking the federal government to pay the N100m ransom demanded by the kidnappers of Greenfield University, Kaduna.

Gumi while calling on the government to pay the ransom said, “The money they are asking for is too much; if I give you that money, you cannot run away with it. Nobody can run. So, why not give them the money, they release the boys and then we pursue them and get our money back and do what is necessary; it is simple logic. So, bring the money from the central bank. How can they move that money? We should not be stupid,” the cleric said.

Ejiofor while reacting to Gumi’s statement said, “I have never supported Gumi’s position because it is like he is now becoming an agent of the bandits but on the other hand, he cannot just come openly to tell the government to pay (ransom). Even if the government will use the backdoor to pay the ransom, it shouldn’t be made public.”

“My concern is that this person in custody, in kidnappers’ den, we should do everything possible to ensure that they come out. Except you are not involved, or you are not affected, you will say people should not pay.

“We have serious security challenges facing the security agencies. Our security agencies are ill-equipped to fight this. You will remember the American who was kidnapped in Niger and brought to Nigeria, how he was rescued through the use of technology. There is nothing wrong with our government using technology like drones to know exactly where these people are. Government should approach the issue of insecurity, especially kidnappings with technological driven operations,” the former ex-DSS director said.

Recall that former Minister of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode called on the Federal Government to invite and interrogate Sheikh Abubakar Ahmad Gumi over his involvement with bandits in the north.

The PDP stalwart was reacting to a video published by Roots TV featuring a mother of one of the abducted students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Kaduna State.