Gumi: Military Has Been Hard on Bandits

Popular controversial Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, says the Nigerian military has been hard on bandits with the approach it uses to win the war against banditry in the northern part of the country.

He said both the Army and Air Force troops have launched ground and air strikes that have killed the bandits’ families – wives and children – which have angered them, as they see it as a war.

Speaking on ‘When will there be an end to Nigeria’s recurring abductions?” organised by Daily Trust via X space on Wednesday, Gumi insisted that it is only a non-kinetic approach that can halt the activities of bandits in the North.

“To them (military) they are fighting a war. Honestly, the military has been very hard on them, the Air Force is killing their families,” Gumi said.

Insisting on socio-economic methods, the scholar said, “When you think of synergy, you can’t rule out the military, but there has to be synergy. Let the non-kinetic approach be in the front. When it fails, then the kinetic can come in.

“And in fact, it will come in a better position because the non-kinetic approach will give access to have a better intelligence, better knowledge and with that kind of intensive engagement in negotiation.”

Niger-Delta militants and Northern bandits

Gumi, who has visited bandits in the forests a number of times, to negotiate the release of victims, gave a similar occurrence of how former President Musa Yar’Adua gave amnesty to the oil-rich Niger-Delta militants which stopped the kidnapping of expatriates.

The scholar said as militants destroyed oil pipelines then, the bandits are also doing the same preventing farmers from working on the farm causing food insecurity, as well as abducting innocent children and women for ransom.

“The change that I would recommend is that there should be a strong committee about it. The same way there was a similar thing happening in the Niger-Delta, whereby militants that were attacking foreigners and our military, and killing policemen, all these happened no more when the (former) president decided to give them amnesty… and it worked,” Gumi said.

“Niger-Delta is relatively peaceful (today). And these warlords are now the ones guarding our pipelines, and they are living their lives normally. A similar version, we can do with these bandits.

“The common factor is that the Niger-Delta militants were vandalising our petroleum which is a good source of national income but also the herdsmen militants are stopping people from farming. Farming is also a very important source of our GDP. And I see that comparisons the way we deal with the Niger Deltans to also deal with these people the same way.”

Failure of past government

He also said that there was a time when the bandits complained that after they fulfilled their own end of the bargain, the government failed on its own by digging borehole water for their community.

“Some people are very pessimistic about it, that it was tried in Katsina and Zamfara states but it failed. I would tell you that it was not wholeheartedly executed because when we went to one camp, the bandits were telling us in front of government officials that they had fulfilled all ten conditions (given to them by the federal government)…and yet the government has not fulfilled its own which is a borehole they requested.”

“And for me that has been in direct contact with them, in the presence of our authorities. I know you know that authorities are aware. Now, I know this can get to President Bola Tinubu to let him understand. Look a lot of Nigerians have been saying that we need a non-kinetic approach to this problem because it is socio-economic things in it… if you say you will use the military is like killing a fly with a hammer. It will just worsen it and cause a lot of collateral damage that is avoidable,” he added.