Gumi’s political expediency makes no sense

Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a prominent Islamic cleric, last week called on President Goodluck Jonathan to shelve his plans for a second term in office in the interest of maintaining peace and unity in the country. Arguing that Jonathan’s yet undeclared ambition is capable of throwing the nation into turmoil, the Kaduna-based Islamic scholar advised that he forego his interest in ruling for another four years and select someone from the eastern part of the country instead to run for the office of the president on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2015 presidential elections.

As leader of the Nigerian Muslim Shura Assembly (NIMSA), Ahmad Abubakar Mahmud Gumi is a well-respected Islamic cleric in the mould of his late father, Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi who in his time was regarded as one of the best and gifted Islamic scholars in the North. About a week earlier, he had similarly openly counselled a former head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, not to contest the 2015 presidential election. Apparently alluding to the violence which marred the aftermath of the 2011 contest between the duo, Gumi envisaged the potential scenario of “a burnt country with hundreds of thousands dead, maimed or displaced people because of the thoughtlessness and recklessness of its stewardship”. He described Nigeria today as “a single railway line with two heavily-loaded trains speeding towards each other in opposite direction”.

Gumi went further to justify his recommendation for Jonathan not to contest with allegations that the incumbent had broken his oath of office. He wrote: “Almost four years ago you swore to protect ‘the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’. You said: ‘I will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions’; and ‘I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.’ Unfortunately, many people including me before God believe you broke some of your oath… You appear more Ijaw than Nigerian… Muslims have officially registered to you on occasions your partiality. Northern groups have complained about your bias… You have divided the nation gravely on the religious divide.”

It is immediately obvious that beyond mere narrow-minded parochial sentiments, Sheik Gumi has no compelling reason why a sitting head of state who, according to several socio-economic indicators, has presided over a period of relative boom, should not offer himself to the electorate to determine if he merits a second term in office. Furthermore, his allegations of bias and favouritism are difficult to substantiate. Looking at the pattern of appointment of ministers in the federal cabinet, for example, it is given that every of the 36 states in Nigeria is expected to be represented there. However, when it comes to the distribution of the key ministerial portfolios of Petroleum, Education, Health, Defence, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Works and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), there are no specific rules and successive regimes have shown either clear lopsidedness or a delicate balance between the Northern and Southern halves of the country.

A careful consideration of ministerial appointments so far in the Fourth Republic shows there’s no significant difference between Jonathan’s administration and those of his predecessors. At the inception of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s first term in office as civilian head of state, there were four northerners (Theophilus Danjuma at Defence, Ibrahim Bunu in FCT Administration, Adamu Ciroma at Finance and Sule Lamido at Foreign Affairs) and three southerners (Tim Menakaya in Health, Tony Anenih at Works and Housing and Tunde Adeniran at Education) heading seven key ministries, with Obasanjo himself being the de facto petroleum minister. For Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s first cabinet appointments, the split was again four to three in favour of the North (Mahmud Yayale Ahmed for Defence, Aliyu Modibbo Umar for FCT, Shamsuddeen Usman for Finance and Hassan Muhammed Lawal for Works and Housing, while the South had Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu for Education, Ojo Maduekwe for Foreign Affairs and Adenike Grange for Health). The distribution eventually became five to three with the appointment of Rilwanu Lukman as substantive petroleum minister in December 2008.

For Jonathan’s first cabinet appointments in 2010, the distribution was a similar four to three, logically in favour of the south this time (Adetokunbo Kayode held sway at Defence, Segun Aganga at Finance, Henry Odein Ajumogobia at Foreign Affairs and Diezani Alison-Madueke at Petroleum Resources, while the North had Ruqayyah Ahmed Rufa’i at Education, Bala Mohammed at FCT and Mohammed Sanusi Daggash at Works, with Health portfolio left without a substantive minister at the time). Jonathan’s present cabinet composition, though apparently in a state of flux, can hardly be described as lopsided in favour of any particular tribe or region. If anything, the north has a clear advantage with the siting of seven out of the 10 newly-established federal universities in the north. Besides, the establishment of Almajiri schools in the northern states is an unprecedented rescue effort which no previous administration in the country ever dreamt of. The north should remain eternally grateful to Jonathan for this uncommon gesture. Goodluck Jonathan regularly joins Muslims around the country to observe the annual Ramadan fast. What then is the basis for Sheik Gumi’s assertions of bias against the North and Islam?

The metaphor of Nigeria as a single track railway with two trains – one controlled by a Southern Christian and the other by a Northern Muslim catastrophically speeding towards each other – betrays Gumi’s natural proclivity for contentious North-South rivalry and Muslim-Christian antagonism. Gumi possibly belongs to the school of thought who never really embraced Nigerian oneness as real and sustainable. In their subconscious, North and South, Christians and Muslims remain irrevocably locked in a deadly and devastating combat. Let’s not be fooled, he attempts to cloak ethnic irredentism under the garb of political expediency. His dangerous ideas represent an encapsulation of the sort of bigotry that repeatedly fans the embers of hatred amongst Nigerians.

The cleric betrayed his personal distrust of the president when he speculated that a segment of the nation rejects him because “they believe rightly or wrongly you are involved negatively in the Boko Haram saga”. In other words, Gumi is not entirely certain that the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not secretly colluding with internationally-outlawed terrorists to inflict mayhem in his domain!

By attempting to cast Jonathan as a nepotistic president championing an ethnic agenda, Gumi knowingly or unknowingly is whipping up some of the same antediluvian xenophobia he readily accuses Jonathan of. If indeed Nigeria is a single rail track with two heavy trains dangerously hurtling towards each other, what role has Gumi assigned to himself in the unfolding saga – an impartial umpire trying to stop or slow down the trains, or a rabble-rouser giddily stoking the very flames he claims he’s trying to quell?

Democratic elections in the modern world often entail contests by popular candidates, and the potential for violence in the aftermath of such an election is not enough reason for the best qualified candidates to shy away from the call of duty. Voter apathy is the inevitable end-result of elections contested by unknown quantities, and Nigeria is trying to build a virile democratic culture, not stagnate it. If Sheik Gumi really has the best interest of the nation at heart, he will do better to preach for the electorate to vote their conscience at the 2015 polls and eschew violence but instead pursue any grievance through legitimate means in appropriate courts of law.

Teslim Dangogo