Gumi Going About His Dialogue With Bandits The Wrong Way – Gov. Masari

Aminu Masari, governor of Katsina state, has expressed dissatisfaction with the manner Ahmad Gumi, Islamic cleric, is going about his engagements with bandits terrorising the north western part of the country.

Gumi has become the self-appointed mediator between the bandits and government.

He has called for dialogue with bandits, in spite of their sustained attacks on schools and abduction of schoolchildren. Despite their unconscionable and nefarious activities, Gumi has also warned against tagging the bandits criminal, saying they are victims of circumstances.

The cleric has made series of publicised adventures to the bandits’ enclaves in the forest in a bid to dialogue with them.

Commenting on Gumi’s approach, Masari said he was not averse to Gumi’s meeting with the bandits, but his grouse is the way he is going about it, noting  that he’s not doing it the right way.

He noted that Gumi’s encounter with the bandits should focus on dissuading them from their immoral and heinous ways, adding that his message to the bandits should be on the sanctity of lives and not implicit encouragement of destructive acts.

“They [bandits] need moral and spiritual education to know the value of lives and stop killing people and stop raping innocent women,” Masari said on Wednesday during an interview aired on Channels Television.

“I don’t [support Gumi] because he is not doing it rightly. I expect him first to preach to them the implication of killing innocent people, abducting people, raping and stealing, and the consequences.

“That is what I expect a clergyman, first and foremost, to do.”

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