Fulani needs Ministry to address their problems - Sheikh Gumi

Islamic Cleric Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi called for the establishment of a Federal Ministry to address the grievances of bandits and killer Fulani Herdsmen terrorising the country.

Sheikh Gumi who is a self-appointed intermediary in the ongoing crises of banditry and killer Herdsmen, stated this in a Facebook post last Friday.

He said bandits should be rehabilitated like Niger Delta militants, adding that declaring war against bandits would be futile.

“Some said we have tried amnesty but it didn’t work. You didn’t try amnesty but tried amnesia. Amnesty without rehabilitation, reconciliation, and reparation is no amnesty,” Sheikh Gumi.

“Ask the former Niger Delta Militants who killed security men in the past what an amnesty is. What stops us from having a Federal Ministry of Nomadic Affairs where their grievances and complaints will be addressed?”

President Umar Musa Yar’Adua implemented an amnesty policy that saw the rehabilitation of thousands of Niger Delta militants who had waged a decade-long war on oil facilities across the region. 

The militants lamented economic deprivation and environmental degradation that assailed the oil-rich region, drawing both sympathy and condemnation from different segments of the society.

The militants accepted political and economic solutions, including the creation of a Niger Delta Ministry, proposed by the Yar’Adua administration and relinquished their arms and ammunition, marking an end of hostilities that saw the destruction of oil installations and deadly attacks on local and expatriate oil workers.

Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi’s statement came days after Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari openly admitted that Fulani are the bandits and Herders responsible for the widespread killing and abduction across the country.

Sheikh Gumi added that his efforts to get amnesty for bandits and killer Herdsmen have been sabotaged by President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to deploy troops against violent criminals.

“Some disingenuous people say: peace and negotiations with Herdsmen bandits have failed, and your mission has failed! I said my mission has not failed but it was sabotaged or discouraged by the same influential people that benefit from the chaos and leave the herdsmen in perpetual ignorance,” Sheikh Gumi said.

Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi is a Former Military Officer with the rank of Captain in the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA). 

He is the current Mufti and mufassir at the Kaduna central mosque Sultan Bello.

As a result of insecurities all over Nigeria, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi strive to negotiate with kidnappers to lower their arms for the safety of Nigeria, which he use to enter jungle and forest reaching out to their various Bandits camps and hideout, dragging their attentions to submit to the will of Allah and not to keep on kidnapping or killing people for wealthy ransom, as Allah will grant them forgiveness if they repent.

This mission started on February when Sheikh Ahmad Gumi attend a peace making mission in Zamfara State, since that occasions, he has taken many preaching visits to Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states, urging bandits to stop attacking peoples.

Sheikh Ahmad Gumi also meet different kidnappers for the issues of people abduction seeking for their freedom, he meet kidnappers on the issue of Kagara students in Niger State.

On different occasions the Cleric called the attention of Kidnappers to drop their weapons by submitting to the will of Allah and to abide by the Nigerian Constitution, and to the Nigerian Government to pardon and grant amnesty for the seek of Nigerian people to live in peace and harmony without living in tension situations.