In the viral video, The islam clergyman argues that bandits are fighters who ought to be dealt with respectfully rather than slaughtered.
Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a divisive Islamic preacher from Nigeria, has cautioned Northerners against voting for politicians who won’t pardon criminals wreaking havoc in the area.
According to the imam in the video that MandyNews.com found on TikTok, bandits are fighters who should be dealt with through peaceful negotiations rather than brutally murdered.
During one of his latest lectures in the northern region of Nigeria, the Islamic preacher made this announcement.
The 35-second video, in which he was speaking in Hausa, has been viewed by thousands of people across social media.
The video, was also widely shared after Shehu Ibrahim released it on Twitter, is translated as follows:
- “Don’t vote for those who will fight bandits. The fighters (bandits) are our people. So pls vote for those who after attaining power will call and negotiate with our people (bandits) so as to give them what they want for peace to reign”.
Gumi Ahmad is renowned for going to talk to bandits in the bush in an effort to broker a peace agreement.
In the past, the high – profile Islamic man visited with some alleged terrorists in the Zamfara and Kaduna states’ forested areas.
He has often urged the Nigerian government to extend amnesty to bandits in the same way that it did for insurgents from the Niger Delta.
The preacher asserted that military intervention against bandits and criminal herdsmen would only worsen the situation rather than resolving the security issue.
He however still maintained that no force, particularly in a weak economy, can succeed in guerilla warfare, using the Taliban’s recent victory in Afghanistan as an illustration.
In addition, the outspoken Islamic teacher argued that instead of spending money on security equipment, the government should invest billions of naira in the construction of schools for terrorists and robbers.
Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Labour Party, recently met with the cleric preacher in the North after making a commitment to meet with everyone and stating on multiple occasions that he would negotiate with the bad apples in society.
Watch the video below.
