The federal government has been pitted against critics and Sheik Ahmad Gumi in various military operations against bandits in Zamfara and other states.
Several other efforts by both the federal government and the state had failed to produce results prior to the military operations.
Many critics of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration have expressed concern about Sheik Gumi’s mediation efforts, claiming that they are an attempt to protect the bandits from punishment.
The federal government was forced to launch military operations in Zamfara after a spate of killings and kidnappings of school children in Niger, Kaduna, and Zamfara states, which resulted in the deaths of some of them.
While many Nigerians applaud the military’s success in driving bandits out of their camps in Zamfara and killing many of them, Gumi opposes the action, calling it counterproductive. Military might, he argued, had never been a solution to similar challenges anywhere in the world.
He went on to say that the government should have opted for dialogue in order to find a long-term solution to the lingering issue.
“These herdsmen are going nowhere; they are already in battle gear,” the Islamic cleric said of the ongoing military offensive. And we are very familiar with our military. So, before things get out of hand, we’ll need some cool heads to deal with this delicate situation.
“In the past, military actions aggravated the situation, inciting herdsmen to resist. Any further action will exacerbate their religious fanaticism.
“It protects them from being branded as thieves, reinforcing their recruitment of gullible, young unemployed youth, as we saw with Boko Haram,” he said.
Sheik Gumi’s stance, on the other hand, drew the wrath of the presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, who referred to critics of the military operations as “bandit lovers.”
Only those who refused to be objective were opposed to the federal government’s military offensive against the bandits, he said.
“A bandit lover is on record as saying that a military offensive would fail and that the bandits would “go nowhere,” he said. True? False! They’re on their way somewhere. That is the pits.”
He claimed that the bandits had a chance to turn a new leaf before the military operations when Zamfara, Katsina, and many other states offered to talk.
“Governments attempted to negotiate with them, but they resisted. They refused to hear the hunters’ whistle, as if they were doomed to die. They flooded the land with grief, tears, and blood, as was their custom (as Fela Anikulapo-Kuti would say). He went on to say, “Now the shoe is on the other foot.”
“I am my country’s lover, my region’s lover, my state’s lover, and my people’s and humanity’s lover,” the Islamic cleric said in a swift response to Adesina’s exposé.
“I am a board-certified medical doctor who understands how to precisely excise a brain tumor while sparing the delicate surrounding tissues. I was a commissioned military officer who understands the purpose of the military and its capabilities. I am an academic with a doctorate from another country.
“As an Islamic scholar, I am well aware of the immorality of killing innocent people. So, in this ocean of oblivion, silence is not an option for me,” he explained.
Gumi went on to say that those who disagree with him are cynical and don’t understand the gravity of the situation.
“As for the cynics who have nothing to contribute to the dilemma except vituperation and abuses, we know what they’re made of. He added, “Without a doubt!”
According to the Islamic cleric, the long-term solution to the threat of banditry, kidnapping, and other crimes perpetrated by bad elements among the Fulani herdsmen is a multifaceted approach that both states and the federal government should adopt.
“Good intelligence, competent policing, engagement of local herdsmen in policing, rehabilitation, reconciliation, and reparation of all banditry victims will be found to be the solution.
He continued, “A good and honest judiciary that protects people’s rights, money, and time will surely kill the disease and heal the country of this delinquency, crimes, and bad governance.”
