Arise TV have achieved what they wanted. That is exactly the mischief they want to promote through deliberate misrepresentation of Sheikh Ahmad Gumi. I have listened carefully to the interview they granted Sheikh Gumi on Wednesday 23rd June. There is nowhere such direct accusation against the entire military as a whole was made by him.
The Southern press is bent on selling a false and mischievous narrative against Sheikh Gumi for his ‘offence’ of advising the federal government to dialogue with the bandits even as they don’t regard IPOB, the Sunday Ibohos as criminals, terrorists.
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For the likes of Reuben Abati, atrocities or even genocide against Fulanis leaving in the South-East or the South-West by either the Yorubas or the Igbos as we used to see in horrific graphic videos is not a crime or terrorism and that they should not be neutralised by the military for their offences but when a Fulani man, goes for revenge or to perpetrate similar acts of violence or criminality like kidnappings, etc they should all (including the innocent) be crucified.
I have been warning and alerting us for many years. Arewa or to put it more boldly Muslim northerners are now paying the heavy price for not investing in the media. They will regret more in future if they didn’t wake up from their slumber.
In the future and as we progress as a nation, not only Sheikh Gumi, everyone can be a victim of the calculated mischief and hatred of the Southern press. Unfortunately, our political elites etc are the ones patronising and building them blindly. They are myopic.
There is no point at all for Sheikh Gumi to dignify them with an interview but being who he truly is, a personality that hardly says no, he used to oblige even at his own discomfort. He has nothing to hide; his mind on what he stands for is pure.
But the Arise TV Morning Show presenters, the likes of Abati, Rufai and Tundun have their own motives. That is why even as presenters and contrary to the ethics they do most of the talking during their hatchet program with Sheikh Gumi.
They deliberately gave him limited time to talk while they took time in the name of asking questions to vituperate and sell their narrative to their predominantly southern listeners. Gumi is not a media man naturally; such motives and understanding may not come to his mind.
The tune of their (Arise TV) questions, their approach throughout the interview is clearly disrespectful to the person of the Sheikh and shows clear hatred for him, his religion and his opinion.
The lead presenter, Reuben Abati has indicted himself at the end of the said interview and has proven to be unprofessional when as an anchor; he attempted to be the judge by rating and judging the entire interview. Abati as the presenter out rightly said he is not convinced by what the Sheikh said and that he believes Nigerians too watching him are not convinced.
I would have expected him to boldly make such conclusions on President Buhari on TV when he and his colleagues recently interviewed the President but what we saw of Abati after that carefully arranged interview with the President is a follow-up PR that doesn’t convince many Nigerians. Abati and his likes are only out to make money at the expense of the blood of many Nigerians particularly northerners (Muslims).
As a so-called professional, he should know that it is the listeners that will be freely allowed to judge the response of the Sheikh, not the presenter(s) that have regrettably expressed where they belong to. Abati is a religious bigot and has shown enough hatred and disdain for the North.
We all know even through history that over two million people were killed during the Biafra war. We are also aware that it was instigated by the brothers of Mr Abati, the Igbos. But the criminals, those that committed the highest degree of treason and killings of our gallant military and other innocent Nigerians, far worse than what we are seeing today from the armed Fulanis were not only pardoned but those of them in uniforms that actively participated in betraying their country were paid their full entitlements.
In any case, Sheikh Gumi has demanded an unreserved apology from the owner(s) of Arise TV and the Nigerian Army that regrettably rushed to issue a press release even without taking time to listen to the said full interview of Gumi. They have fallen victims to the carefully scripted sensationalization and misrepresentation of the interview by Arise TV.
Below is the full text of Sheikh Gumi’s press release:
ARISE TV: My Demand For An Unreserved Apology!
It is mischievous to deliberately misrepresent people’s statements by any standard. This is not the first time I am a victim of this malice.
I was approached by some honourable aids seeking me to have a live interview with Arise Tv, which I accepted. I was not oblivious about their attempts to change my narrative during the interview and even in previous ones, and present me in a bad image despite attempts to clarify myself in explicit language.
However, the press release by the Nigerian Army Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, Director Army Public Relations on 23 June 2021 thus: “The sweeping allegation peddled by the scholar is not only sad and unfortunate, but a calculated attempt to denigrate the Nigerian military and undermine the sacrifices of our patriotic troops, who are working tirelessly to restore peace and stability across the country” is most unfortunate and unbecoming of such a prestigious institution of our national defence to be drawn wittingly into this dirty war of regional, tribal and religious conflicts of interests which the press is not also absolved of. I am waiting for the officer gentleman to point to me in the said interview where I made ‘the sweeping allegation’.
My statement was categorical about the bad elements in the security apparatus that were authentically reported as aiding some bandits in the National dailies. The gentleman officer has also confessed: ‘While the NA will not attempt to excuse the possibility of black sheep amongst its fold’.
Given the aforementioned, and in the interest of national cohesion, I am hereby demanding an unreserved apology from Arise TV and the Nigerian Army Director of Public Relations for misconstruing my statement with the apparent intention to tarnish my reputation.
Ahmad A. Gumi
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Kaduna.
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