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Gumi and the Glamorisation of Banditry, By Wole Olaoye
Gumi has been spreading his message that the bandits should not be called criminals and that they are some kind of freedom fighters.
This glamorisation of banditry is one of the reasons criminal elements continue to fester. In a nation of laws, how can anyone advocate a situation where hostage takers and bandits are treated as criminals in one section of the country and as freedom fighters in another? Do we have one country governed by the rule of law or are sections of this country operating under the rule of mullahs?
A Southern Kaduna group, under the aegis of the Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union (SOKAPU), has criticized Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, calling for his arrest and prosecution over comments they deemed to be inciting.
The group took exception to a viral video of a conversation Gumi had with some Fulani terrorists when he visited them in their hideout and told them that the soldiers who are “killing them are Christian soldiers and not Moslem soldiers.”
In the video, Gumi also told the criminals that when they “attack a community in vengeance, they should choose their targets well.”
In a statement made available to Ripples Nigeria and signed by the Secretary General of SOKAPU, Luka Binniyat, the group wondered how Gumi could make such inflammatory statements and the Nigerian government and the security agencies have refused to invite him for questioning.
By Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and John Shiklam in Kaduna
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), yesterday lashed out at an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, over inciting comments on the fight against banditry, depicting Christian soldiers as the ones killing bandits.
“In the military, there are Christians and Muslims; the Christians in the military are the ones killing you (bandits) to cause problems,” Gumi was heard saying in a video of his address to bandits in one of the camps he visited.
He had also, on a live TV programme, said bandits were not interested in killing people and that the “few” they killed were “accidental.”