Controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has said that if herdsmen leave banditry, they would not have a source of financing their war machine.
The statement was made when Gumi spoke on ‘Ending Insecurity; Amnesty and Negotiation with Bandits’ in an interview with AIT.
“The herdsmen have gone through a lot of hardship, nothing the government sits down to look into their plight and modernise their lives,” Gumi said.
Gumi lamented that no government had ever spent anything on herdsmen. “Not one kobo of our Nigerian budget goes to them.
The Islamic cleric said bandits are not living a luxurious life, adding that they drink from the stream sometimes.
“If they stop banditry, they will not have a source of financing for their war machine,” he added.
“We are pressured to fight the government. The government that has helicopters is bombing us. So chill out, there’s money.
Meanwhile, Gumi has cautioned against the United States (US) involvement in Nigeria’s fight against terrorism, saying the development could worsen the country’s security crisis rather than solving it.
Gumi, in a Facebook post on Monday, stated that Nigeria must be careful not to compromise its sovereignty in the name of seeking foreign assistance to tackle banditry, Boko Haram insurgency and other forms of insecurity.
“Nigeria’s sovereignty is a red line,” he said. “If only the military is allowed to operate with fairness, transparency and proper rules of engagement, then the security challenges can be dealt with.”
The cleric warned that foreign military intervention, particularly by the United States, could turn Nigeria into a new battleground for international terror networks.
He warned that such intervention could draw foreign extremist groups into the country and subject Nigerians to a wider scale of violence.
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