Popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, on Thursday offered a fiery prayer calling for divine punishment on individuals and groups he accused of sponsoring and benefiting from Nigeria’s worsening insecurity.
In a Facebook post titled My prayer today, the cleric urged God to expose and punish all those he said were behind the bloodshed across the country.
“Ya Allah, whoever initiated or is behind this insecurity and bloodbath in Nigeria, whether foreign or citizen, or has any benefit, material or otherwise, or is even happy that people are being killed, or willingly did nothing to stop it, may by Your divine power be exposed and Your anger poured upon them and punished immediately without harm to the innocent. Amin,” he wrote.
The post immediately generated mixed reactions from social media users. One of the respondents, Sani Badamasi, accused Gumi of indirectly encouraging bandits through some of his past statements.
“With due respect, sir, telling the bandits they were cheated is part of encouragement. Sympathising with them is also part of it. There are words that are more dangerous than weapons,” he wrote.
Gumi replied briefly, urging him to simply say “Amin.”
Another user, Endless Joe, also reacted by supporting the prayer but added that anyone who had spoken in favour of bandits would face divine judgment. Gumi responded by extending the prayer to all enemies of Nigeria, including bandits.
The cleric has remained a controversial figure in Nigeria’s security discourse due to his past engagement with armed bandit groups in the North West.
