Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi has opined that armed bandits terrorising Northern Nigerian learnt kidnapping from Niger Delta militants.
The revered Sheik made the claims while speaking on a program on the Africa Independent Television (AIT) channel.
Gumi further reiterated his calls for the bandits to be granted amnesty just the way the Federal Government granted the militants.
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He believes that if the government could grant amnesty to the bandits, they will expose those perpetrating criminality within their cycle.
“We didn’t take a different route of trying to solve this problem and that is why we are still here today. And when we say amnesty, we don’t mean that anyone proved to be involved in murder should go free as such.”
“They learned about kidnapping from MEND. I do not see any difference. They were the first victims of rustling. Their cattle are their oil. What we are seeing now is more of an insurgency than banditry. I can say 10 percent of the herders are criminals, not 90 percent, in the end, they took up weapons to protect themselves from extinction.
“They can take care of the little remnants of criminals among themselves because they don’t want anybody to bring mayhem to them,” he said.
Gumi recently paid a visit to the bandits in their hiding forest, appealing to them to embrace peace, and called on the federal government to pardon the bandits,
However, Gumi’s suggestions received wide condemnation from prominent Nigerians including governors , saying kidnappers must be made to face the full wrath of the law.
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