Don’t use military force on bandits — Sheikh Gumi

A prominent Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has declared that the recent military force going on in Zamfara State against the bandits and herdsmen is counterproductive and might not yield the most positive results.

This was even as he posited that the authorities ought to have known by now that the bandits are going nowhere and it will need a non-kinetic approach to solve the current security challenges.

He made this known on his Facebook page on Monday morning titled “Zamfara: The Flaring of Crisis”.

Drawing an analogy from the experiences the state had passed through, the cleric noted that this was a state that came to the limelight 20 years ago, when the Shariah legal system was introduced.

But he alleged if those who were at the helm of affairs promoted literacy and economic empowerment, the state could have become a shining example for others.

He noted that because it was political, Shariah fizzled out and 10 years later cattle rustling became the order of the day.

“This massive movement of rustled cattle greatly reduced their population. Most of the rustling first affected the rural herdsmen and it became more elaborate in the North-Western region.

“Herdsmen were left with only one of three options, to join the rustlers or pay tribute to rustlers for protection or lose their cattle.

“In 2014, the military ‘intervention’ in the Birnin-Gwari Forest to fight cattle rustling changed the headsmen into a resistance movement as many innocent Fulani Ruga settlements were murdered, men, women, and children in hundreds,” he said.

(Nigerian Tribune)