Like Coup Plotters, Bandits Also Deserve Pardon

Ahmad Gumi, prominent Islamic cleric, has again doubled down on his justification for granting of amnesty and soft landing to bandits terrorising the country.

The controversial cleric this ttime around drew comparison between the bandits and coup plotters and those who killed millions of compatriots during the Nigerian civil war which was fought between 1967 – 1970.

He averred that if those who commited treasonable felony and instigated the civil war can be pardoned, there’s nothing wrong in granting bandits Amnesty.

He was responding to a statement by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) who chastised him for claiming Christian soldiers were attacking bandits.

Speaking in Kaduna on Thursday, Gumi said he’s advocating amnesty for bandits because they promise to turn a new leaf once they are pardoned and not hounded with prosecution.

He added that granting amnesty to the bandits will bring peace to the country, saying they’re victims of profiling too.

“Even those that instigated the civil war, the civil war that millions of people died [in], were pardoned. I see no reason why we cannot accept their [bandits] repentance and give them amnesty,” The PUNCH quoted him as saying.

“You ask why do we give them amnesty but they told us specifically that they are ready to drop their arms and they don’t want to be pursued with legal actions after they repented.

“If the country could pardon coup plotters who committed treasonable offences in the era of military administration, the bandits can as well enjoy similar forgiveness even better under democratic rule.

“Since that is the bottleneck and it is only the federal government that can give them that leverage. Strangely, we found out that they are victims too. They were victims of profiling.”

In the past few weeks, Gumi has been making attempts to broker a peace deal with bandits and calling on the federal government to grant them amnesty.