Tobias Sylvester
Popular Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, has finally reacted to the arrested of his aide, Tukur Mamu, by the Department of Security Services (DSS).
Ahmad Gumi Reacts To Tukur Mamu’s Arrest
Mamu, who was at the forefront of negotiations for the release of the Abuja-Kaduna train captives, was arrested with his family in Cairo, Egypt’s capital.
The publisher of Desert Herald was detained with his family members at Cairo International Airport while they were on their way for lesser hajj in Saudi Arabia.
The Egyptian authorities repatriated Mamu back to Nigeria before he was arrested again by DSS operatives at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano.
The Kaduna publisher, who is currently in the custody of the DSS to answer questions related to some critical security matters, was arrested together with his family shortly after he was repatriated to Nigeria from Egypt.
On Thursday, DSS operatives stormed Mamu’s residence and office, and recovered military accouterments, different currencies and denominations and other “incriminating materials.”
But Mamu’s family said that the military accouterments found in his home belonged to his nephew who is an officer of the Nigerian Navy.
The family, who also accused the DSS of concocting false allegations in order to give the publisher a bad name, said that the total amount of the hard currency found in Mamu’s house if converted into naira is less that N1.5m.
Reacting to the controversy while preaching at Sultan Bello Mosque, Sheikh Gumi said the arrest and detention of Mamu by the DSS is an act of terrorism and intimidation.
The cleric, who said God has a way of testing a believer, added that the arrest of Mamu was God’s way of testing his faith, praying that Mamu would overcome it.
Gumi aid, “Take him to court to face trial. Keeping him in custody despite being a family man was just to intimidate him. This intimidation is also terrorism. Arresting people unjustly is also terrorism; just like the terrorists do by going to somebody’s house to kidnap him.
“How can we continue in this situation under a government that is about to wind up? Our hope is for them to finish successfully not in a bad light.
“It’s not about Tukur Mamu, you all know that whenever they arrest innocent people, I always talk, not to talk of someone that I know and I’m only advising the government to release him so that we can apologize to him to forget what happened.”
KanyiDaily recalls that a security source had revealed that Tukur Mamu was arrested because of his “Strong ties with terrorist groups and N2bn ransom racketeering”
