Nigeria – Saturday 26 June 2021: Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has said that Northern Islamic cleric, Sheikh Gumi ought to have been arrested.

He said this on Saturday in a Twitter post as he berated the cleric for defending and trying to justify actions of bandits in the North.

Recall that the cleric on Friday denied reports that he had been invited for questioning by the Department of State Services.

Sheikh Gumi in the past has severally defended the bandits who consistently abduct school children, travellers and other residents in the North for ransom.

The cleric, however, said that the bandits were not up for killing but to make some money.

He recently alleged that some army and police officers colluded with criminal and bandits in the north to aid banditry.

It is in response to all of these the former minister suggested that the cleric ought to have been arrested for his tweet.

“The issue is not who goes into the forest to meet the terrorists with you but rather what you say to them when you get there & what you gain by constantly defending them & attempting to justify and rationalise their barbaric actions.

“You are their best friend: that makes you a terrorist as well and you ought to have been arrested long ago.”

Gumi on the other hand while speaking on Friday said that everything he had done with bandits inside and outside the forests were known to security agencies and the government.