Human rights lawyer and activist, Deji Adeyanju, has called on the Federal Government to immediately arrest Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, over his comments on Nigeria’s worsening insecurity.
Adeyanju made the call after Gumi’s recent interview on AIT, where the cleric said bandits needed money from kidnapping to finance what he described as their “war machine.”
Gumi had argued that herdsmen and bandits had suffered hardship and that government had failed to address their situation or modernise their lives.
Reacting to the viral comments, Adeyanju accused Gumi of defending bandits and promoting terrorism through his words and actions.
“People like Gumi can only survive in a country without a government. Terrorists sympathizers are terrorists,” Adeyanju wrote.
He urged the government to arrest Gumi as a deterrent to others, insisting that anyone who sympathises with terrorists should be treated seriously by the state.
The call has sparked fresh debate over free speech, insecurity, and how authorities should respond to public comments seen as sympathetic to criminal groups.
