In a telephone interview with our correspondent, Dr Gumi said that the Olusegun Obasamjo administration was sending negative security reports against him, but the Saudi authorities did not take it serious because it did not affect their country.
However, following his alleged link with Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the Saudis decided to investigate him in order to determine the veracity of earlier reports, he added.
According to the cleric, the Saudi Arabian authorities found nothing against him even on the first day of his arrest but his release was delayed because it had to be authorised by a royal decree.
“The decree takes about six months to be issued,” he said. Gumi, who was released yesterday, said that he was never mistreated during his incarceration. Gumi said that it was because he was found innocent that he was never charged to court.
The cleric who said that he has forgiven everyone who was remotely linked to his arrest, advised government officials to desist from indiscriminate filing of security reports based on either religious or ethnic sentiments. Gumi who pointed out that such frivolous reports demean the country’s prestige, added that “I have forgiven all, and I bear no grudge against anybody. ``
Gumi said that he will finally return to Nigeria after the Hajj, when he has defended his doctoral degree thesis in Saudi Arabia where he is studying, and after coordinating how to relocate his family. He further said that his children are in various stages of their education and as such his return has to be planned carefully.
The Nigerian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alhaji Garba Aminci, told Sunday Trust that “Gumi was released unconditionally because he was not fund guilty. If he had been found guilty, he would have been deported to Nigeria after his release, according to Saudi laws.”
A presidency source told Sunday Trust last night that the cleric was released at the behest of the Federal Government. He claimed Architect Muhammad Namadi Sambo, the vice president had official discussions with the Saudi authorities’ on the matter.
The vice president was said to have travelled to Saudi Arabia to seek for Gumi’s release as a result of “mounting pressure in Nigeria to the effect that the Federal Government has abandoned its citizen in a foreign land.”
An associate of the Gumi family, Ustaz Hussain Zakariya told Sunday Trust that the cleric, who is the father of 17, has been reunited with his family in Mecca. The cleric was released “but won’t return to Nigeria until he completes his PhD defence,” he said.
Zakariya added that Gumi was “brought back to his residence in Mecca where he was earlier picked by security operatives about six months and 18 days ago. He was reunited with his two wives and 17 children.”
Dr Gumi was detained on February 24 on the alleged links with Abdul Mutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian who attempted to blow up a US plane last December. Chieftains of the Izala movement which was pioneered by his late father, Sheikh Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi, Jamaatul Nasril Islam (JNI), the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), the federal and Kaduna State government have been piling up pressure on the Saudi government to secure his release.
On May 20, Sheikh Yusuf Sambo Rigachukun, a prominent Izala chieftain, wrote to Saudi Arabia a letter and delivered it to the Saudi embassy in Abuja. In the said letter, the Izala group pointed out that Dr Gumi has been living in Saudi Arabia for over 20 years and he had never ran afoul of the law. In addition, they argued that he had never interfered in the internal politics of his host country and his preaching is in tandem with Saudi Arabia’s. They also called for his release.
A few days later, the Saudi embassy called the Izala big wigs for a parley, where the Rigachikun and his delegation made further clarification on their letter. The Ambassador later told them that Gumi was still being investigated on his relationship with Abdul Mutallab, promising that the issue will be resolved amicably.
Similarly, NSCIA had been battling for Gumi’s release, by making a representation to the federal government. According to Dr AbdulbLateef Adegbite, NSCIA’s Secretary General, the council had asked the federal government to intervene because it was a diplomatic issue. Similarly, Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna state and the Emir of Zazzau went to President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene on Gumi’s detention.
In addition to these groups, well meaning Nigerians and ordinary folks across religious and cultural divides have been calling on the federal government to facilitate the release of the Islamic cleric.
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