A Northern Leader, Sheikh Gumi, has expressed regret for voting out former President, Goodluck Jonathan, in the 2015 general elections.
Gumi, who made this disclosure on Tuesday, in an interview he granted to some Reporters, expressed his views about the current happenings in Nigeria.
His Statement in the interview reads: “Jonathan is even needed in the country more now, to bring stability to the country. Give him his due recognition. He did well too. He made mistakes, everybody makes mistakes.
“This government should use former President Jonathan now, to stabilize the South-East and the South-South.
“The past political leaders in the North have not done well for us in the North.
“One of the problems they refused to solve, is the level of education among our people.
“Look at the Almajiri problem, the effort of former President Goodluck Jonathan was the best.
“He built four hundred Almajiri schools. It was the absolute right thing to do.
“If that program had continued, it would have killed Boko Haram.
“Politics set in, people diverted the funds. Jonathan had the answer to the Almajiri issue, but it was not executed.
“President Buhari is already making a mistake. He has to be very tactful. He has to be subtle and wise.
“It is just like removing a tumor from the brain. Ask a Neurosurgeon, he will tell you that a small tumor may take you 15 hours to remove.
“You cannot rush. This is how Nigeria is: delicate.
“All these drastic measures, stringent measures don’t work.
“The way the present administration is handling corruption, it is not working.
“I am not supporting Boko Haram or corruption, but it is the way they are being handled.
“During Jonathan’s time, soldiers mounted road blocks in every city and corner, would make people get down from their bikes and cars.
“The security services were humiliating people who were supposed to vote for President Jonathan, in the name of fighting Boko Haram.
“The North is the victim of Boko Haram. Maiduguri is the victim of Boko Haram. A majority of the people don’t like Boko Haram.
“When you institute stringent measures that punish the population, they turn against you.
“Jonathan is a good person, but the security deceived him. They stirred the anger of the people against him.
“This was a man who was doing his best, but his agents did not do well for him.
“The market is very volatile. It does not want disturbance. Look at naira, it has crashed against the dollar, and the economy is grounded.
“It would have been slowly and subtly done. If you go to Malaysia or Saudi Arabia, the rate against the dollar remains the same.
“Now, the corruption we are trying to fight has tripled, because once there is poverty, the brain does not accept what they see as corruption.
“You cannot get anything now, except you give money. You don’t smash your television set, simply because you want to kill a rat in your room.
“Even the agitation in the South has increased, because of the way the President is handling issues.
“Generally South-Easterners are good people, but they do not have intellectuals to direct them on what to do and how to do it.
“This is what they lack. What we will do is to assist them to have good intellectuals.
“To begin any genuine reconciliation, President Buhari should release Nnamdi Kanu immediately.
“He should not only be released from prison, he should also be brought to the negotiation table.
“Government Ekpemupolo, Asari Dokubo, should be brought to the negotiating table. Kanu should not be in prison.
“He is merely agitating, and they have a reason to agitate. Bring them to the table.
“They are different from Boko Haram. We had to use force on Boko Haram.
“I think we can bring them to the table now, because they have seen their experiment did not work.
“As for Kanu, he should be brought out and negotiated with. Ask him what he wants.
“Bring Europeans and teach him how to negotiate. It is not by force.
“If you paralyze Enugu with a demonstration, you are destroying the economy of Enugu. It is not good for you.
“Bring peace to the South-East, develop the South-East, then negotiate. Kanu should be educated.
“If you imprison him, you are giving him the power to draw sympathy from even those who do not support what he is doing.’’
