It Is Easier to Meet Bandits than President Buhari, Sheikh Gumi Says
- Northern Elders Forum spokesperson Baba-Ahmed revealed that Sheikh Gumi has been unable to use his dialogues with bandits to solve the insecurity problem
- Baba-Ahmed said the cleric explained that this is so because his attempts to meet President Buhari all failed
- Gumi was said to have tried to reach the Nigerian leader for months after meeting the bandits who, he said, were easier to reach
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Sheikh Gumi, the Islamic cleric and frontline mediator in the battle to end the scourge of banditry in Nigeria, said after his dialogue with bandits he has not been able to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is according to the words of the spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed.
In a tweet on Wednesday, April 7, Baba-Ahmed said Gumi made this claim while speaking at a northern people's meeting in Kaduna state.
Gumi was said to have tried for months but failed to meet President Buhari to share his idea on how to tackle the menace of banditry.
Gumi has consistently argued for an amnesty for bandits, saying they are not bad people, just misunderstood fellows.
He said:
"Today Sheikh Dr Abubakar Gumi told Northern Peoples Summit in Kaduna how he spent months meeting bandits, and many more months on fruitless efforts to meet and advise President Buhari on how to tackle the scourge.He said it is much easier to meet bandits than meet the President."
Legit.ng reported recently that Babagana Monguno, the national security adviser, confirmed he met with Gumi, an Islamic cleric with a view to tackling insecurity in the country.
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The security adviser said the Islamic cleric has offered to help the government in tackling attacks by bandits.
Monguno made the disclosure at a briefing with journalists at the presidential villa in Abuja on Thursday, March 11.
Although the presidency has never said why President Buhari has not met with Gumi, the Nigerian leader did express disagreement with the idea of granting amnesty to bandits.
Source: Legit.ng