TheCable

The Arewa Youth Parliament (AYP) has carpeted Ahmad Gumi, a prominent Islamic cleric, for asking President Bola Tinubu to remove Nyesom Wike as minister of the federal capital territory (FCT).

The cleric had in a sermon said if Tinubu did not remove the former Rivers governor as FCT minister, they would not be on the same page.

Reacting in a statement on Tuesday, Yahaya Salisu, spokesperson of the group, described the comment by Gumi as “unpatriotic” which is capable of causing disunity among Nigerians.

“Nigeria is a democratic republic with each citizen having equal rights as the other, and as such, the seat of the FCT minister belongs to any qualified person, irrespective of tribe or religion,” NAN quoted Salisu as saying.

“We therefore condemn in strong terms this unpatriotic utterance which is capable of fanning the embers of disunity and hatred amongst peace-loving Nigerians.

“Nigeria is going through a healing process under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Muslim.

“It is important that Muslim clerics should support his administration to ensure that justice, equity and good governance are served on the Nigerian populace, which is one of the tenets of Islam.

“This is the time for each and every Nigerian to embrace one another in order to overcome these challenging times.

“We should shun hate speeches and malicious rumour-mongering as it is capable of setting our dear county ablaze.

“The minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, together with the minister of state for FCT, Dr Mariya, a Hausa Muslim from the core northern state of Kano State, are harmoniously working hard to reposition the federal capital city with a befitting status that we will all be proud of. We should please encourage them.”