Sheik Gum urges Buhari to sponsor ‘good’ bandits

Etim Effiong

Sheik Ahmad Gumi, Islamic cleric, and former military officer has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to engage fragmented groups among bandits to end mass abductions of school pupils.

The Islamic cleric noted that there are good, bad, and ugly bandits.

He, however, advised the Federal Government to dialogue with the “good” bandits to fight the bad ones.

He said: “We are always trying to do our best, but you see, you need two hands to shake. You know these people (bandits) need engagements from the government itself. If you dialogue with them without the involvement of the government, it is a problem,” Gumi told The Punch.

“Government needs to be proactive with them. We have a lot of them that are ready to fight the bad ones. Use the bad to fight the ugly and use the good to fight the bad ones when you’re done with the ugly. Look at Boko Haram, who finished Shekau? Was it not the splinter group?

“So, it is easy. “All these agitations you see, if the government can do a splinter group and the splinter group is empowered, every man wants power and money, they will do your job. There are many ready to submit themselves. All the ones you see me meeting in the bush, they are all telling us, ‘we are ready.”