Popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has insisted that Nigeria negotiating with bandits to prevent greater bloodshed is not bad, saying it is not prohibited in the Quran or the Bible.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC shared on Tuesday, Gumi defended his long-held stance that negotiating with bandits is unavoidable, describing engagement with non-state actors as a practical strategy to secure peace and save lives.
“That word [‘we don’t negotiate’], I don’t know where they got it from. It’s not in the Bible. It’s not in the Quran.
“In fact, it’s not even in practice. Everybody’s negotiating with outlaws, non-state actors, everybody. So who got it, and where did they get that knowledge from? We negotiate for peace and our strategic interests. If negotiation will bring stoppage to bloodshed, we will do it.”
He also described the kidnapping of schoolchildren as a “lesser evil” compared to killing soldiers.
“Saying that kidnapping children is a lesser evil than killing your soldiers, definitely is a lesser. Killing is worse than, but they are all evil. It’s just a lesser evil. Not all evils are of the same power,” he said.
He cited previous incidents, including the mass abduction in Kebbi State, noting that the victims were freed without fatalities.
“So it’s a lesser evil than, like, what happened in Kebbi. They abducted children, and they were released. They didn’t kill them.”
“It’s an evil, and we pray that they escape,” Gumi said when asked what he would say to the parents of the abducted children.
Gumi stressed that his past engagements with bandits were done openly and with authorities present.
“I go there with the authorities. I don’t go there alone. And I go there with the press,” he said.
He revealed that his last direct meetings with bandit groups were in 2021, adding that he made marathon efforts to bring various factions together, but the federal government at the time “was not keen” on the initiative.
He said he withdrew completely once the groups were officially designated as terrorists.
On the wider security situation, Gumi argued that Nigeria’s military cannot shoulder the burden alone.
“We need a robust army… but even the military is saying our role in this civil unrest, in this criminality, is 95% kinetic. The rest is the government, the politics, and the locals. The military cannot do everything.”
Gumi also clarified that most bandits are Fulani herdsmen, not urban Fulani, urging a clear distinction between the two. He described their struggle as rooted in survival and cattle rearing:
“They are fighting an existential war… Their life revolves around cattle. In fact, they inherit them. They’ll tell you, ‘This cow I inherited from my grandfather.’ They are mostly Fulani herdsmen, not the Fulani town, because you have to differentiate between the two.”
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Surah and verses sir 🙏