IT was in February 2021 that I first heard of Sheikh Gumi when he made a rather passionate plea to the government to consider the plight of bandits and grant them amnesty in a radio interview. I dismissed the man’s statements as a joke until his words took a more threatening tone.
The popular Islamic scholar, Ahmad Gumi, sees the terrifying breakdown of law and order in Northern Nigeria as a knee-jerk response to previous maltreatments and marginalization. It has been suggested by Sheikh Gumi that some Fulani nomads who have been dispossessed are now reacting violently to the actions of other ethnic groups affecting their livestock business. Gumi and a number of commentators believe that these herdsmen have turned to banditry as a form of retaliation against cattle rustling and previous hostilities directed towards herdsmen.
As the bandits increased the frequency of their attacks, the media focused more on these attacks and began to question the motives behind such lawlessness. Sheikh Gumi famously insisted that the bandits were not criminals and they were waiting for the government to negotiate with them. They just want to live better lives so they have resorted to the violation of the lives of others until the government comes begging them to stop.
Now, what would Sheikh Gumi have the government do? The federal government should overlook the crimes of every group threatening the peace of the country and always seek ways to compensate them because they are alienated and downtrodden? Crimes cannot be justified, abductions and random bloodletting should not be accepted as a norm amongst disgruntled groups in Nigeria. This is what Sheikh Gumi has failed to state clearly.
Gumi has been accused of sympathizing with these bandits who are currently wrecking the north but he has insisted that he does not back the actions of the bandits. Despite this, he has revealed that he has tried to reason with these bandits, even going to hold talks with them in order to understand “their demands”. It was after one of such meetings with the bandits that the Islamic scholar announced on radio that the government must reach out to them or they will continue to kidnap Nigerians and no one will save us from them.
Listening to that interview, Sheikh Gumi took the position of a spokesperson. Not only did he reveal the grievances of the bandits, he also issued a threat on their behalf. He also believes that if the government can work with him and assure the bandits of safety and rehabilitation, all their criminal activities will cease to exist. “They are Nigerians. I hate to call them bandits. They are militants fighting for ethnic survival. They want to defend themselves. If there is peace, you will not see such things as banditry, kidnapping, among others. If you are talking about victims, they have more victims on their side than others. To them, they are fighting a war of existence. If you have seen them (herdsmen), you will discover they have nothing like civilization other than the guns they are carrying. We are trying to talk to them to drop their guns. There are peace processes ongoing, and they are ready to put down their arms. They are not killing people; they are just engaged in ethnic revenge. The Fulani herdsmen are victims of military excesses. The armed herdsmen are kidnapping to make money.”
However, the federal government has ignored the words of Sheikh Gumi and Governor Nasir el-Rufai expressly responded that bandits must be dealt with to the full extent of the law. Unfortunately, kidnappings have continued to increase. The leader of the kidnappers, Sani Idris Jalingo, has threatened to kill the surviving hostages from Greenfield University if a ransom of 100 million naira and 10 motorcycles is not paid. Although Gumi claimed that the kidnappers are Boko Haram and not bandits, he complained that his fruitful efforts were not being appreciated by the government and has advised that the money be paid and later recovered from the kidnappers since that sum will be too large for them to run away with. Gumi’s repeated and unsolicited efforts to serve as a bridge between the federal government and these criminals is a rather suspicious phenomenon, I would take his pieces of advice with a pinch of salt if I were the Nigerian government.
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