Controversial Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, says he has quit
mediating for armed bandits following their declaration as terrorists by the
court
Gumi spoke in an interview with Premiumtimes in Kaduna on
Wednesday.
He had visited 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 as was done to the militants in the
Niger Delta.
Before Mr Gumi started his campaign, the Zamfara State
Governor, Bello Matawalle, and his counterparts in Katsina, Aminu Masari, had
engaged bandits in their state in dialogue.
But after the approach failed to end the menace, the
governors endorsed military actions against the bandits.
Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai and his Niger State
counterpart, Abubakar Sani, have consistently opposed dialogue with the
outlaws.
Mr Gumi had said his efforts in that campaign were for the
sake of peace and economic prosperity of Nigeria, but lamented that the efforts
have been sabotaged.
Premium Times reported how the Federal High Court in Abuja
declared the activities of bandits’ groups as acts of terrorism.
The verdict strengthened the call on the federal government
to declare bandits ravaging the North-western and the North-central regions as
terrorists.
Mohammed Abubakar, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP)
of the Federation, had filed an ex-parte application seeking to proscribe the
grisly activities of ‘bandits’ who have been waging a relentless war against
ordinary Nigerians in the North-west and North-central States.
The bandits have been vicious in kidnapping and killing
their captives across Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Benue and Sokoto states.
Gumi’s new position
And now with the declaration of the bandits as terrorists,
Mr Gumi said it will be dangerous for him to continue to engage the bandits.
He told our reporter that “since the federal government has
declared them terrorists, I don’t have anything to do with them anymore.
“I will not like to expose myself to danger again and to put
a spotlight on myself unnecessarily,” the cleric said.
“I have tried all I could do to admonish the nation on the
best way to do it, but it seems my advice has fell (fallen) on deaf ears.”
The cleric in previous media interviews, had advised the
federal government to grant amnesty to the bandits, and to establish a ‘federal
ministry of nomadic affairs’ which will address the grievances and complaints
of Fulani cattle herders.
But from now, Mr Gumi said he would be a “spectator in the
crisis”.
“I have endangered my life for peace by going to the forest
and engaged the bandits. Among them there are rock bandits, they are dangerous,
armed ready to fire.
“It is dangerous, still we risked our lives to see that we
bring peace to this nation. Because somebody has to take that risk and we took
it and thanked God we came out safely and knowledgeable, knowing how to come
about this issue.”
Mr Gumi said “Maybe in the future when the political situation
changes for better, we can do it again so that there will be peace, harmony and
tranquility in the country.”
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ReplyDeleteIf Sheik Gumi after declaring he will no more mediate for d bandits the bandits attack him, he becomes a victim to both bandits and himself or his presumptions, which convincingly proves him wrong in every way, because even if d bandit terrorists did not attack him, it is either because he is one of them or the govt system provided him security against the attack, and all these mean Sheik Gumi already boxed himself in bad light by mediating and advocating for "innocent" treatment of d terrorists by d corrupt govt system. Indeed two wrongs can never make a right.