Popular Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has urged his congregation to support candidates who will not fight bandits if elected to office with less than two months to the general elections of 2023.
The controversial Islamic cleric referred to bandits as “our people” and asked his followers to vote for candidates who would negotiate with them if they were elected.
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Gumi claimed that in order for peace to reign in Nigeria, the country’s future leaders must engage in negotiations and grant bandits what they demand. He also charged Christians involved in the military’s counter-insurgency/anti-banditry campaign with killing bandits.
“Don’t vote for those who will fight bandits. The fighters (bandits) are our people. So please 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,” he said.
While extending their operations to other regions of the nation, bandits have been terrorising the Northern States like Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, and Taraba.
They have kidnapped and murdered a number of people while demanding millions of naira in ransom.
Gumi is a well-known, though contentious, Muslim cleric who serves as a self-appointed middleman between bandits and the government.
