Kaduna preaching bill is unconstitutional- Gumi

Prominent Kaduna-based Muslim cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, has described the preaching bill that has been generating controversy in Kaduna state as unconstitutional. Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who initiated the bill had said it was an updated version of an existing law required to curtail inflammatory sermons by faith leaders. Sheikh GumiSheikh Gumi But in an interview in the April edition of The Interview, Sheik Gumi said the bill had gone too far. He said: “If you are trying to fight terrorism and extremism, you don’t clamp down on the freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of propagation of thoughts. These liberties are enshrined in the constitution.” However, he said that the bill could drive extremism underground. The cleric also described Boko Haram as “100 per cent a Muslim problem”, accusing some people in the north of “cooperating with and working to protect them.” Gumi, who also spoke on varying national issues ranging from the military-Shiite clash in Zaria; the ongoing investigation into the $2.1 billion arms scandal involving ex-National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki; and the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari, pointed that “Boko Haram cannot prosper in Ibadan, because the locals will expose them. The same in Enugu. The people agitating for Biafra cannot prosper in the north because they will be exposed. “We have to understand that these people are from amongst us and that the society is not doing enough to bring these elements out. I can tell you that Boko Haram is 100 per cent a Muslim problem.” Gumi, who also described the agitation for Biafra as “analogue,” challenged Muslim leaders to do more to combat Boko Haram.