Gumi demands blanket amnesty for bandits 

A Kaduna-based Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, on Monday reiterated the need to grant bandits amnesty.

Gumi said bandits are going nowhere until the Nigerian Government grants them amnesty like it did to the Niger Delta militants.

The cleric, who has access to bandits, disclosed this in a post on his Facebook page entitled: ‘Zamfara: The Flaring Of Crisis.’

Gumi warned that military action against armed herders would worsen the insecurity situation rather than solve it.

Citing the incident in Afghanistan, the Kaduna-based scholar insisted that no military, especially of a poor economy, can win guerrilla warfare.

The statement reads partly: “By 2015, banditry has replaced cattle rearing that is becoming nearly impossible. Drugs were introduced into the herdsmen that are known to be illiterates or semi-illiterates.

“Just as we had the Niger Delta conflict resolved with an amnesty which comes with reconciliation, reparation, and rehabilitation packages, so will the herdsmen crisis be resolved. In fact, there is a need for a Marshal plan to educate the nomadic pastoralist so that no citizen is left behind.

“No military, especially of a poor economy, can win guerrilla warfare. The recent victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan is a factual warning for those that contemplate.”

Recently, Gumi had called on the Nigerian Government to grant bandits blanket amnesty.