Popular Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Gumi, has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor must be prepared to start working instantly, saying the country is suffering from “disabling diseases”.

Gumi described Nigeria as similar to a single human body suffering from leprosy, diabetes, and AIDS which weakened the entire body system.

He said this via a statement he personally issued on Sunday.

“The next president is going to meet a great mess. In a metaphorical sense, the nation is suffering from three main disabling diseases. They are Leprosy, Diabetes, and HIV AIDs, all in one body.

“The next president needs to be intelligent and supported by men with acumen not the ‘garagara’ person with an impulsive temperament that is after the praise of sentimental citizens. He has to act quickly and carefully,” the cleric said.

According to him, although local problems may have a global undertone, the president must be wary of dishonest religious leaders.

“The president has to be careful of the dishonest clergy. Like mosquitoes, they feed on every system without adding any values except polarizing the nation more on the religious divide.

“I cannot imagine a nation facing insurgencies left, right, and center, yet the clergy would fold their arms without intermediating to see for conflict resolutions. Rather they are busy fueling religious polarization,” Gumi added.

The cleric further stated that the country should decentralise policing for maximum security.

He said: “As for security, there is a need for a general overhaul to reflect the security challenges the nation is facing. The nation needs state and county police, and a national guard with forest rangers also drawn largely from the dwellers of the forest.”

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Gumi stressed that the incoming president must not think of using force alone to tackle the security challenges bedevilling the country, saying such would only aggravate the situation.

“If the next president also follows the same trajectory thinking that the present government was only dealing with the criminals with kid-glove, then a greater insurgency will definitely ensue.

“It’s taking almost twelve years to fight Boko Haram in the North East, with their leader only killed during a factional fight, not by our military action. And now, many BH are fortunately surrendering as a result of the genuine efforts of reconciliation and rehabilitation by the federal and state government as demonstrated by action, not rhetoric.

“Comparing them to IPOB who are non-repentant and not ready for reconciliation is disingenuous. Yet politicians have to deal with that,” the popular cleric said.

He further advised that the country needs a nationalist with well-defined economic strategies to raise national income which will be felt by individuals.

“The economy is in such disarray that needs a true nationalist that will institute measures even if they are against these ‘fake’ corporate bodies that are Dracula sucking the blood out of the nation.

“Not the kind of ineffective but detrimental measures we experience in the past, but well-studied economic measures that will not only increase the GPD but raise the per capita income of the individuals. Today in Nigeria, the middle-class income strata are almost effaced. You are either poor or extremely rich,” he stated.

While praying for the country, Gumi said Buhari’s successor must invest heavily in education to give a better chance to every Nigerian child.

The Star