Gumi’s logic: It’s unfair to compare bandits, herdsmen with IPOB

Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, is once again striding authoritatively on his high horse.

The man who has earned for himself the “unofficial spokesman” of armed bandits in northern Nigeria on Wednesday took a cursory assessment of insecurity in Nigeria and rated the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) most culpable out of three criminal groups.

Gumi, in an interview with ARISE television, took a comparative analysis of the so-called bandits ravaging the North West, armed Fulani herdsmen running riots across the federation and IPOB plaguing the South East.

His verdict: It is unfair to compare bandits, Fulani herdsmen with IPOB. His reason: While bandits and herdsmen abduct innocent people, including children, for money, IPOB attacks security operatives and destroy government facilities.

“IPOB is attacking the police, the army, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other government institutions; killing our men in service.

“And the herdsmen are kidnapping children not to kill them but to get money; so how can you compare somebody who is killing our gallant men directly to somebody who is kidnapping children to make money and not to kill them. Look, we need some fairness in what we are doing,” he said.

READ: Herdsmen, Bandits kill 1,165 persons in Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto in 8 months

READ: Suspected herdsmen attack Adamawa community, kill village head, destroy houses

READ: Fulani herdsmen-turned bandits, kidnappers are peaceful, victims of circumstance – Gumi

READ: It’s injustice clamping down on IPOB and leaving AK-47 carrying Fulanis – Ortom

Gumi described banditry in northern Nigeria as a business while blaming security agencies of complicity in the violent enterprise.

According to him, security operatives are working with the bandits who are wreaking havoc across the country.

He accused the security personnel of giving the armed gangs a soft landing, adding that gunmen would not have had access to weapons without the support of some security personnel.

“These bandits, if you don’t know, are cooperating with a lot of bad elements in our security system. This is a business. So many people are involved, you’ll be so surprised.

“They were caught in Zamfara; they were caught everywhere, how do these big weapons cross our borders? How can these big weapons cross our borders and get into the forest without the cooperation of some bad element of the security operatives assisting them?

“It’s not possible. If I give you the same amount of guns, can you take it to the UK? You can’t, because the security is alert.

“Part of fighting this banditry is to overhaul our security system,” the Islamic Sheikh argued rhetorically.