Is Prof. Usman Yusuf Now A Terrorist Sympathiser?

BY ANTHONY ADA ABRAHAM

I have been someone who closely follows Prof. Usman Yusuf’s interviews and his positions on national issues. He has consistently been one of Buhari’s strongest critics and has also remained openly opposed to the current administration’s policies.

However, a recent comment attributed to him has gone viral, where he was allegedly advising the new Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa, not to wage total war against Fulani bandits and terrorists, but instead to negotiate with them. This claim honestly beats my imagination and has left me confused, especially since I did not personally follow the interview aired on a Hausa radio station.

I have tried to counter this narrative because I never considered Prof. Yusuf a bigot or someone insensitive to insecurity and the loss of innocent lives due to ethnic bias. But if he truly made such a statement, I would not be surprised. It would only reinforce my long-held belief that not everyone who is educated truly understands that humanity must come before religion or ethnicity.

I would be deeply angered if, after the brutal killings of our people and even his own people-in villages across the country, he is suggesting that the federal government should sit down with these criminals and negotiate their freedom. That would be nothing short of rubbing salt into an open wound.

I sincerely hope he did not make that statement. Because if he did, I would have no hesitation in seeing him as a sympathiser of terrorists.

Anthony Ada Abraham is a journalist and public commentator writes from Abuja