Gumi: "These people calling for my arrest are clowns,I don't see them different from the bandits

 

Gumi

Ahmad Gumi is a famous Nigerian Islamic cleric. He has been outspoken and made very controversial moves on the lingering insecurity in the Northwest and North-central regions of Nigeria where armed bandits have been kidnapping and killing at random. Mr Gumi had visited some of the bandits in the forests in Zamfara and Niger states, taken medical services to them and has been urging the federal government to grant them a general amnesty.

Mr Gumi said his efforts in that campaign were for the sake of the peace and economic prosperity of Nigeria, but now alleges that the efforts have been sabotaged. Following the federal high court declaring the bandits as terrorists, Mr Gumi said he has quit mediating in the crisis because it will be dangerous for him to continue to engage with them.

Gumi and Some Bandits

In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES’ Ahmadu Maishanu in Kaduna, Mr Gumi, who is the chief Imam of the Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna, speaks about his understanding of banditry as well as his disagreement with the government’s handling of the crisis, and what he has been doing at individual level to bring an end to the problem.

He also speaks about rotational presidency, his relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. He also responds to those calling for his arrest over his hobnobbing with the bandits.

The controversial Islamic cleric noted that banditry have been wrongly diagnosed and that is certainly the reason for it's escalation noting that it may become worst.

Gumi believes general amnesty is one of the ways out, he says

Amnesty is not a cure by itself but a part of a package that will ultimately put an end to banditry particularly in the Northwest. It has relatively worked in the Niger Delta, it has pacified them, it has brought some sanity. They (militants) allow for exploration of oil for a very long time until when the economic situation changed and the sociopolitical situation changed, then they partially returned to what they had been doing.

The Islamic cleric in responding to accusations against him and the call for his arrest over claims of him sponsoring bandit debunked the allegations and blame ignorance of the as reasons for such allegations in his words;

They are clowns, they don’t know anything about the Nigerian society, they don’t know anything about the Nigerian constitution and liberty. It is a constitutional right for someone to express his views, so long you are not calling for violence or to harm anybody. These people calling for my arrest, I don’t see them different from the bandits. To say that I am supporting or sponsoring bandits is malicious. I am just trying to cure them in my own way. I am trying to prevent it my own way and I have seen how my little efforts have helped. I just have a different perspective in addressing the issue. But to encourage them? No. To help them? No. It is impossible. I am also a victim of banditry

Gumi further claimed he have made several efforts to meet with President Buhari but all effort have not be successful but having declared bandit terrorist there is no need meeting with the president and lamented that the Federal Government do not understand the situation in his claims:

I don’t think they understand the situation. Today, very sadly, we heard a bus carrying about 30 people was burnt by bandits and Nigerians know that they don’t used to do that. That is as if we are teaching them to be true terrorists. It is just like a lady known to be going out and people started calling her a prostitute, there will come a time when she will come openly and say ‘I am a prostitute, so what?’ We are not using human psychology in our fight against terrorism or against banditry.

Gumi, also have lend his voice on the ongoing nationalist movement claiming that all secessionist are half baked, in his words,
"All the secessionist agitators are half-baked and uneducated literates. We are in the 21st Century, man is going to space for tourism but you are still talking about my region, my tribe. What is tribe? What has your tribe contributed to humanity and you think that you are better than other tribes? Islam has taught us that the best of you is one who fears Allah; not tribalism, because tribalism is an old and retrogressive idea, so anybody calling for that needs to be re-educated if he is educated".