Abubakar Gumi, a northern Islamic scholar, has demanded an “unreserved apology” from the Nigerian Army and Arise TV for presenting him in a bad image to the public.

Gumi is known for his controversial comments showing sympathy for marauding armed bandits ravaging Nigeria’s northwest.

In his interview with Arise TV on Wednesday, Gumi had claimed that some soldiers were colluding with armed bandits at the expense of national security.

Again, showing sympathy, Sheik Gunmi said armed bandits should not be compared with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). He argued that while IPOB members were “killing our armed forces, bandits only kidnap children for money”.

Reacting, Onyema Nwachukwu, the Director of Army Public Relations, said “the sweeping allegation peddled by the scholar is not only sad and unfortunate, but a calculated attempt to denigrate the Nigerian military and undermine the sacrifices of our patriotic troops”.

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The Islamic scholar has however called out Arise TV and condemned the army spokesman for referring to his comments as a “sweeping allegation”.

“I was not oblivious about their attempts to change my narrative during the interview and even in previous ones, and present me in a bad image despite attempts to clarify myself in explicit language,” he said in a statement.

He described the army spokeman’s statement as “most unfortunate and unbecoming”.

“I am hereby demanding an unreserved apology from Arise TV and the Nigerian Army Director Army Public Relations for misconstruing my statement with the apparent intention to tarnish my reputation.”