Don’t Run for Presidency – Sheikh Gumi advises Buhari
As the 2015 general elections draws closer, renowned, influential,
and moderate Islamic preacher, Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi has advised
former military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari to forgo his
presidential ambition for the peace and political stability of Nigeria.
In an open letter addressed to the retired General on Tuesday, Sheikh Gumi hailed Buhari for his humility, excellent record in public service and tough stance against corruption but hinged his advice on the former soldier’s inability to control his supporters, describing it as his point of weakness.
Gumi ended the letter by alerting Buhari of a plot to use him to truncate the current democratic dispensation just like he was used to overthrow the civilian government of Shehu Shagari in 1983.
The full text of his letter reads:
“Assalamu Alaikum
The Humble People’s General.
I know I have access to your privy but this is meant for others to learn also.
The prophet -peace be upon him- told one of the most honest and truthful of his companions Abu Zar Algafary: “oh Abu Zar, I truly love for you what I love for myself. I
indeed see that you are weak so never accept to lead even two people and never accept safekeeping of the orphans wealth’
An honest and candid advice from the prophet that is still valid today for any leader whose weakness borders on leadership qualities.
The reason for Abu Zar’s weakness has nothing to do with his credibility or truthfulness. Never! The prophet was narrated as saying: “there is nobody under the shadows of trees or bare sun that is more honest in speech than Abu Zar.”
Abu Zar – May Allah be pleased with him- is ascetic and inmaterialistic. Abu Zar is incorruptible. And yet he is not suitable for leadership.
I am not claiming to be even by an atom’s weight anything close to our noble prophet, yet I am encouraged to give you this same advice by the virtue that you are not also close to Abu Zar in piety. We are living in a time of great tribulations and fitnah especially for this Ummah because of our collective iniquities, ignorance of religious instructions and the love of Dunyah.
Sir, your weakness is not in your past impeccable record of accountability of public wealth and the fight against corruption and indiscipline. Your weakness is in your inability to control men compounded further by your strict and obsessive rejection of corruption.
Don’t be surprised. You may need to understand that Islam being a pragmatic religion allows the use of Zakkat and public wealth as an instrument to pacify and lure influential people for the sake of righteousness, peace and stability. In modern governance today it translates into the security vote.
Thus men are also controlled by money. So if your policy of governance is ostensibly centered on sealing tight the use of money you will have great problem with men. An Arab poet said: “a fool cannot be the leader of his people but the true leader of the people must feign foolishness”.
It’s convenient for your ardent supporters to quote copiously from the annals of history your great achievements but when your failures and weaknesses were pointed out they say that was in the past. Are the lessons of past history only good for the positive achievements? Doesn’t that also explain our incessant failures?
Your Excellency, good intentions are never enough. In the past, because of your clean records and straightforwardness you were lured by men who want only the vanities Dunya to uproot a young democracy on the caprices of fighting corruption. Corruption is no doubt an evil but there is a more monstrous evil than corruption. That is turmoil and insecurity. Peace and stability are the most important part of governance that no price is too high for them.
The lack of peace, stability and security is the major predicament of this nation since independence. So when you were naively used by men to derail one, that is the greatest disservice you committed to the nation the ills of which we are yet to recover from. Do you truly believe Allah is still not in cognizance of that? You were lead to uproot a duly elected leader and incarcerated him for close to two years knowing fully well that he has no charge of even the corruption that was labeled against him. Yes, Shagari was the leader and therefore he bears all the responsibility of misdeeds in his government, so also you were a leader and you should bear all the responsibility of derailing the peace and stability of governance in this country as a consequence of that putsch.
You weakness in control of men became evident when the very people that used you to revolt against a constituted authority came back to uproot you from the seat of power. Your own kinsmen without a gun cocked in your defense. Today the corruption you were deceived to fight against has reached unimaginable level coupled with the worst state of insecurity and peace in the nation. There was just recently an attempt on your life like many of us.
All this because you the honest people that are given the privilege of strengthening the Armed forces left it to meddle in politics. We thus lost everything. Neither the power nor the security.
A believer is not stung from the same hole twice. Men used your innocence before to get power and dump you. Please be sensible today. Some other men still want to use you to get power and surely they will dump you again. You don’t share the same philosophy at all. Even though as I explained later, your obsession and philosophy of fighting corruption is not the priority of Nigeria today. What Nigeria needs utmost now is peace and stability. This can only be achieved when the religious ethnic and regional divide is tamed. And you can only tame it with people without much precedence. People without much following. Yet people that are constructive and have the ability to control men.
If Sardauna today is alive in your situation he will never contest for the presidential seat because of his deep understanding of what the nation needs. He will step down for a more acceptable younger person. It’s on record that Sardauna even at the age of under 60 said he was not going to contest again preparing his only house in Rabah for retirement.
I’ll give you a similitude to buttress my point of priority. A person seriously injured and fractured from a road traffic accident when brought to the emergency room, the first priority of the doctors is to secure an intravenous line. Meaning get a drip set working into his veins to protect his vital organs like the heart and kidneys from the effects of shock and loss of blood. The fractures even though serious and the source of the blood loss may take days and weeks before they are even attended to beside the superficial dressings.
Nigeria now needs peace and stability first. Then we talk of good governance later even though it’s the source of the predicament we are facing.
The present government has already charged the situation and played the religious divide to its advantage. It’s in circulation now, a SW pastor calling on Christians and the church to vote Jonathan as their only Savior. This religious card will be used to cover for his deficiency in governance.
Your Excellency, you should understand too, that many if not most of your supporters are also looking up to you to protect them from the onslaught on their religion and region. This also the Christian will never believe the otherwise. Therefore the stage is set for religious confrontation which is the least the nation needs.
What we need as a priority is peace and stability.
From my view if APC can support as an example Ameachi or Okorocha/Kwankwaso or El-rufai or Tambuwal ticket and the PDC will have Akpabio/Muazu or Ribadu or Shekarau, the next four years will. – insha Allah – witness stability both in the north and south. And the electoral body will get the necessary infrastructure that subsequently the next election will be free and fair and the true reflection of Nigerians.
If you may ask, why can’t this same peace be achieved with you and another Christian running mate?
Gen. you have antagonist, and they are many and also as ardent as your supporters. Your supporters have the biggest proportion of the underprivileged of the society which is the petrol that can be easily ignited by the slightest spark. The spark will be when you’re declared the loser. And you know you can very well lose if the Christians follow their church -and why not in this era of mediocrity.
On the other hand if Jonathan comes back. BH will be real not the political one we see. The turmoil will engulf the whole country not only the north. That is why I also call on PDP to present some other candidates.
My Brother in Islam, please listen to the words of wisdom. And don’t follow the whims of the riff raff. Before they used you the first time to disrupt the second republic, my father advised you against it. Today I am also advising you against contesting in the 2015 presidential elections because you will be used to ignite the nation -a dream well orchestrated several years ago- and also be used by bad people as a ladder to grab regional and local powers.
I rest my case here.
My best regards and condolence to your recent loss.
May Allah guide you and protect you from the evil men and the jinn. Amin.
Ahmad Abubakar Mahmud Gumi.”
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