The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has urged the Federal Government to immediately arrest and prosecute Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi.
HURIWA said the call comes in response to Gumi’s repeated defence of what it described as “the atrocities and blood-curdling violence unleashed on innocent citizens by largely Fulani terrorists in North West Nigeria.”
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, HURIWA condemned the government’s selective enforcement of counter-terrorism laws, noting that Sheikh Gumi, based in Kaduna, has consistently provided moral and propaganda support to terrorists without facing prosecution.
The rights group added, “It is morally wrong that the federal government has kept Mazi Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra in detention for ten years for advocating self-determination, while ignoring a Kaduna-based cleric who continues to provide intellectual support to Fulani terrorists in the North West and publicly campaigns for amnesty for mass murderers.”
HURIWA reminded President Bola Tinubu, a former distinguished Senator, that Nigeria’s counter-terrorism laws are detailed and stringent.
“A 2011 counter-terrorism law, amended in 2013 and again in 2022, prescribes capital punishment as the maximum sentence for certain terrorist offences.
“The law also includes provisions for the exercise of fundamental human rights, including peaceful protest,” the statement noted.
