Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has condemned the Federal Government for threatening to sanction the BBC and Daily Trust over their recent documentaries on terrorism.
News360 Info had earlier reported that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed on Thursday threatened that President Muhammadu Buhari-led government would sanction the platforms in due time.
Mohammed accused the news platforms of glorifying terrorists with their interviews.
Gumi in his reaction claimed that the Buhari government is trying to find a scapegoat to justify its failure.
He accused the government of wasting $16 billion in the last seven years without result on security.
According to Gumi, BBC captured the actual cause of insecurity in Zamfara State, adding that it is more of an ethnic war.
Gumi in a statement released on Friday “FG’s attempt in trying to find a scapegoat to justify its glaring failure after wasting over $16 billion in the last seven years without any commensurate result on security and efforts to blackmail certain media organisations for their patriotism in reporting the crisis is unfortunate and should be resisted by all responsible media organisations.
What is happening in Nigeria today, especially in the North West as clearly captured by the BBC, is more of an ethnic war and reprisal killings and attacks due to the government’s failure to address well-documented instances of injustices that were initially done to the Fulanis.
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.
As I talk to you now, cattle rustling has not stopped. Many law-abiding Fulanis have fallen victim to the official extortion of their cows. I have well-documented evidence involving some security agents in which I intervened. How do you expect as a government to address insecurity, especially related to Fulani bandits without addressing such instances of extortion and rustling?
When a Commander-in-Chief rewards failure with ambassadorial appointments in a system and a society that records increased attacks, when security agencies cannot even protect Abuja and especially when the Guards Brigade cannot even protect themselves not to talk of the President, then why blame the media for such failure and ineptitude for reporting it?.”
