Why Govt Can’t Arrest Me For Meeting With Bandit – Gumi

Popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has reacted to calls for his arrest and prosecution over his frequent meetings and interactions with bandits who are terrorising the north-west and north-east geopolitical zones of the country.

Gumi has been playing the role of mediator between the monstrous bandits and the government following fresh waves of attacks and abductions in north west.

In the last five months,  bandits have attacked schools and abducted nearly 500 students in schools in Niger, Zamfara and Kastina, releasing them after ransom was paid.

Gumi has since weighed in on the troubling situation, meeting with the bandits to see how he could get them to desist from their diabolical deeds and recommending to the government what could be done to stem the unsettling tide of banditry.

However, many have raised concerns about Gumi’s  relationship with the bandits, with some insinuating that the cleric has gone out of the due bound of propriety and he’s not being sympathetic to the cause of the bandits, a disposition that they say is entrenched in some his utterances which seem to justify the horrendous actions of the bandits.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, had called for the arrest and prosecution of Sheikh Gumi.

HURIWA had stated that Gumi’s interaction with bandits amount to treason that should be decisively dealt with.

But reacting to the calls for his arrest, Gumi described those behind the clamour as ‘clown’.

He disclosed that constituted authority is privy  to his meetings with the bandits and that government officials are always present at this meetings

The Kaduna-based cleric chastised those calling for his arrest, adding that he was not the first to have negotiated with bandits.

Kaduna and Zamfara States’ governors had met with bandits before him, Gumi said in an interview with DailyPost.

Asked to respond to those calling for his arrest, Gumi said: “Those are clowns, even the Kaduna State governor dialogued with them, Zamfara governor dialogued with them.

“I’m not the first person that started dialoguing with them (bandits). I only added value, and I find them to be religious; religion is the only thing that teaches you that blood has sanctity. So this is the religious angle.

“I’m trying to gather them and teach them that there is sanctity to life. They cannot kill, rape and so on. This is the addition I hope will work. Note, I never visited these bandits without a government official, but they are in the background.

“All the bandits we met were with government officials, and that is why I said those calling for my arrest are clowns.”

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