Renowned Islamic cleric Ahmad Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi has dismissed claims that he supports or defends banditry, saying his calls for dialogue and rehabilitation have been misrepresented by what he described as ethnic-interest groups and sensational online commentators.
Speaking in Kaduna, the cleric defended his consistent push for a non-military approach to addressing insecurity, especially banditry and insurgency in Northern Nigeria.
According to Gumi, Nigeria has largely depended on military operations since the death of the Boko Haram leader in 2009, yet insecurity has continued to spread across states such as Katsina State, Zamfara State and Niger State.
“If the kinetic approach is not working for 17 years, why don’t you change the approach? Why don’t you change the methodology?” he asked.
Gumi argued that past efforts in states like Katsina and Zamfara mostly involved paying off bandits without tackling the deeper causes of the crisis.
He proposed a wider rehabilitation strategy that would include engaging armed groups, removing them from forest hideouts, enrolling their children in schools and creating opportunities for surrender through amnesty programmes.
“These people told us they are ready to lay down their arms, but what are their conditions? Has anybody listened to them?” he queried.
The cleric also noted that many bandits fear being arrested or attacked after surrendering, stressing that trust-building measures would be essential for any peace process to succeed.
Drawing comparisons with the rehabilitation of former Boko Haram fighters, Gumi maintained that adopting a similar approach for bandits could deliver better results than years of armed confrontation.
“From the number of Boko Haram repentants, which are in thousands, you can see that the same approach can be applied to the bandits,” he said.
