ISHOLA BALOGUN FROM VANGUARD
The popular Kaduna-based cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gummi, has again called for negotiation with the bandits, expressing his readiness to join the negotiation team if invited by President Tinubu led government. In this interview with Saturday Vanguard, Gumi said the talks with the bandit is so longer a secret, revealing why such talks will end up as another ‘government contract’, an avenue for some people to siphon money. Excerpt.
Is it true that peace talks have started with the bandits?
I heard that there were some contacts made with the bandits but I am not part of it.
Why do you choose negotiation with the bandits instead of military action?
You cannot rule out the role of the military. In fact even if you are negotiating, you will not be doing that from the standpoint of weakness. So, the military has a great role to play, but the military alone cannot do it because this is a socio-political issue, and the Military does not solve political problem. We have to go to the round table.
Also, nobody can tell me the bandits do not want to sit on the table. I have sat with them, I called them, they also came to me, they told me their grievances. The moment fire is exchanged, while the other side is ready to sit down for talks, it will complicate the whole issue. I don’t think that is logical, they will continue to blame each other. You can sit and discuss the way out and broker peace which is very possible. That is the way to go.
What did they say their grievances are?
Their grievances are that they displaced them from their ancestral homes, they are killed and bombarded. And when they surrendered, they came back and picked them and killed them in extra judicial manner. They also said the amnesty programme failed after the negotiation.
Luckily for us, they are not challenging government authority. That is on the positive side, but the danger is that we have terrorists that are trying to infiltrate them. So, we either bring them to our own side or we allow the terrorists hijack them, and certainly that will be another story. The Boko Haram recently ambushed Army and killed many of them.
Guerilla warfare does not end like that. We don’t want this issue of banditry to be prolonged, we want a quick solution. They have not joined the religious terrorists, and when you look at their grievances, which according to them are, no school, no social amenities, no roads, they feel they should have their share of the national cake as Nigerians.
If they have grievances such as these, why don’t they utilise the political means to settle them instead of resorting to violence?
First, we introduced violence to them and they now found it as the way. Secondly, they are not schooled. They don’t reason like you and I do.
How would you want somebody who is not schooled to reason like you? If you give them all the opportunity to good life, school, social amenities, etc, then if they come up with weapons we can crucify them.
So, I will advise the government to come up with a very strong committee, that will look holistically into the problem. All stakeholders will be on the table and we iron out an action plan to solve the problem, not the political gathering like the one they did in Katsina or Zamfara. No! It has to involve everyone of them and a solution will…
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