A sharp international rift has erupted over Nigeria's security strategy, as a prominent Catholic cleric in the United Kingdom has called for the arrest and prosecution of Nigerian Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Gumi for his criticism of the recent US airstrikes in Sokoto State.
Deacon Nick Donnelly, a permanent deacon in the UK, took to social media platform X to demand that the Nigerian government take immediate legal action against Gumi. The call comes after Sheikh Gumi publicly condemned the Christmas Day military operation authorized by US President Donald Trump, urging Nigeria to sever all military cooperation with the United States.
A Clash Over Sovereignty and Counter-Terrorism Strategy
Sheikh Gumi, known for his controversial mediation efforts with bandit groups in northern Nigeria, argued that the airstrikes were a dangerous mistake. In a statement on his Facebook page, he asserted, "Terrorists don’t fight terrorists in truth; they may only kill innocent people and have ulterior motives behind the drama of fighting 'terror'." He warned that turning Nigeria into a "theatre of war" for foreign powers would attract anti-US forces, further destabilizing the country.
Gumi's position is that effective counter-terrorism requires robust, sovereign ground operations by Nigerian forces—a capability he believes the nation possesses—rather than reliance on foreign "kinetic" strikes.
The UK Deacon's Accusation: Crimes Against Humanity
Deacon Donnelly's response was uncompromising and accusatory. In his post, he framed Gumi's criticism as support for the terrorists targeted in the strike. "Sheikh Gumi protests President Trump’s Christmas military strikes against the bestial Islamist terrorists. Calling the terrorists conducting the genocide against Christians 'our warriors'," Donnelly wrote.
He escalated the charge significantly, calling for Gumi's arrest and prosecution for "crimes against humanity." Furthermore, Donnelly issued a direct ultimatum to Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stating, "Tinubu must publicly condemn Gumi or else he is declaring his complicity in his crimes."
This extraordinary demand from a foreign religious figure places immense political pressure on the Nigerian government. It forces President Tinubu's administration to navigate between domestic figures advocating for sovereign solutions, international partners providing military support, and now, external voices calling for the criminalization of dissent within Nigeria's complex security debate. The clash highlights how Nigeria's internal conflict has become a polarized international issue, with critics abroad framing the discourse in starkly different terms than many domestic stakeholders.
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