The President of the Yoruba Youth Council (YYC), Mogaji Alawode Rahmon Akintunde, has strongly condemned the recent statement credited to Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, describing Arewa as “civilised” while asking IPOB and OPC to learn from the North.
Mogaji Alawode described the statement as reckless, provocative, insulting and capable of inflaming ethnic tensions at a time when Nigeria desperately in need of responsible leadership, mutual respect and national unity.
According to the Yoruba youth leader, no ethnic group or region in Nigeria has the moral authority to arrogate superiority or civilisation to itself while denigrating others.
“Sheikh Gumi’s statement is an insult to the collective intelligence, history and dignity of the Yoruba people and other ethnic nationalities in Southern Nigeria. The Yoruba civilisation predates modern Nigeria, and our contributions to education, democracy, culture, commerce and national development are documented facts that cannot be erased by provocative rhetoric,” Alawode stated.
He questioned the moral basis for portraying the North as a model of civilisation amid the devastating activities of Boko Haram terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other violent groups that have killed and displaced thousands of innocent Nigerians across the region.
Mogaji Alawode further called on the Federal Government and relevant security agencies to immediately invite Sheikh Gumi for questioning and investigate his persistent controversial interventions on matters involving armed bandits and terrorist groups, insisting that no individual should be treated as being above scrutiny under the law.
“We call for the immediate arrest and thorough investigation of Sheikh Ahmad Gumi over his persistent inflammatory statements and his publicly acknowledged interactions with armed groups. Nigerians deserve to know the full nature of these interactions. If no wrongdoing is established, the law will speak; but silence and selective enforcement only deepen public suspicion,” he said.
The Yoruba youth leader stressed that freedom of expression must not become a licence for reckless ethnic comparison, incitement or statements capable of undermining peaceful coexistence.
He urged Nigerian youths, particularly Yoruba youths, to remain peaceful and refuse to be provoked, while calling on leaders across the country to promote unity, justice and mutual respect rather than ethnic superiority.
“Nigeria belongs equally to all of us. No region is superior to another, and no ethnic nationality should be treated as second-class. The Yoruba people are peaceful, accommodating and civilised, but our restraint must never be mistaken for weakness,” Mogaji Alawode concluded.
