Gumi, 2nd Right, during his recent visit to the bandits at their hideout
The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has warned popular Islamic cleric, Sheik Gumi, to desist from comparing members of the group with terrorists.
The cleric was quoted to have compared Biafra agitators and their Oduduwa Republic counterpartswith the bandits rampaging the North and the entire South.
In a statement by the Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, IPOB said it was insulting comparing freedom fighters with blood-sucking demons in human clothing.
It accused the cleric of being one of the hardened supporters of terrorism, stressing the statement, if true, had exposed Gumi’s real identity.
The statement, according to The Nation, reads: “We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), under the leadership of our great leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, read with incredulity a provocative remark credited to a filthy looking so-called acclaimed Islamic cleric in the mould of Sheik Gumi that bandits and freedom fighters are the same.
“Gumi, in the said media report, allegedly compared agitators of Biafra and Oduduwa republic with his Fulani bandits rampaging the North and ravaging the entire South.
“Such a statement if true, has simply unmasked and exposed the real identify of this man masquerading as an Islamic cleric when in actual fact he is one of the hardened supporters of Fulani terrorism.
“With such ignorance- laden utterance from a supposed Islamic scholar, the world does not need to look far for the real sponsors of banditry and terrorism in Nigeria.
“We now know those behind the killing spree and evil agenda to decimate indigenous ethnic populations and non-muslim communities across Nigeria.
“Before now Nigerians were deceived into believing that bandits and other agents of terror on rampage all over Nigeria were invisible and without a fixed address. How come this pretender and self-acclaimed Islamic cleric knew where to find the bandits?
“He even posed for a picture with gun weilding murderers and was very proud of it. How was it that this man managed to locate the hideout of these mass murderers but Nigeria Airforce cannot?
“How come there hasn’t been any invasion or bombing of any of these bandit settlements in the North but the same Nigeria Airforce were quick to deploy fighter jets to be terrorising innocent citizens in Orlu?
“Not only did Sheik Gumi wine and dine with their bandits, he has also suddenly become their advocate. He has gone to the extent of comparing blood suckers with self-determination activists. What a national embarrassment!
“In his warped mind, Sheik Gumi can no longer differentiate between self-determination, which is a constitutionally guaranteed right and terrorism which is a crime.
“This hypocrisy has confirmed our earlier position that terrorism and banditry in Nigeria are common agenda of the caliphate.”
Use Security Budget To Address Armed Fulani’s Demand, Gumi Tells FG
During his Tuesday February 2, 2021 visit to the bandits hideout in Zamfara State, Gumi, had decried the Federal Government’s use of force in the fight against what he called a typical insurgency in the North.
Speaking in continuation of his five-day visit to bandits and Fulani settlements in the state, he said the huge financial resources spent in the fight against insecurity in the region could have been used to address the needs of armed Fulani.
“Such billions would be more than enough if judiciously used to address all the demands of the armed Fulani, including providing them with basic amenities, training them and providing them with the needed capital,” he added.
He said most of the Fulani had lost all their possessions as a result of cattle rustling and instances of extortion by some corrupt security agents.
Gumi, who toured the forest near Daki Takwas, called on the Fulanis to lay down their arms and avoid bloodshed.
He assured them that Governor Bello Matawalle was sincerely committed and would address their grievances.
Gumi also promised that he would do everything within his might to convey their concerns and demands to President Muhammadu Buhari.
He added that he would be in constant touch with the Zamfara State Government to ensure that there was no breach of the agreement from either side.
Before embarking on his tour of the forest, Gumi and his team paid homage to the Emir of Gusau, Alhaji Ibrahim Bello, at his palace in the state capital, where he told the emir some of the grievances of the armed Fulani, including periodic attacks on them.
ECOWAS Court to deliver judgment in SERAP suit on April 22
Meanwhile, the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Abuja will on April 22 deliver judgment in the suit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project against the Federal Government over violence allegedly perpetrated by herdsmen across the country.
According to a statement by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the court heard arguments in the case seeking “justice and accountability for the authorities’ failure to prevent, account for and investigate killings, raping, maiming of Nigerians and other residents, and destruction of property across the country by herdsmen and other unknown perpetrators.”
The court was reported to have adjourned the suit to April 22, 2021 for judgment after hearing arguments from solicitor to SERAP, Femi Falana, SAN; and the government’s lawyer, Mr Adedayo Ogundele.
Gumi Visits Bandits In Zamfara Forests, Appeals For Peace
He had also visited some bandits in the forests of Shinkafi and Gummi local government areas of Zamfara State
It was gathered that Gumi’s visit to the camps was to spread the message of Islam and peace to the Fulani herdsmen and rid the country of kidnappings and banditry.
He and his entourage were said to have first gone to the forest of Tubali and Makkai in Shinkafi LGA which were under the control of armed Fulani herdsmen.
At the first settlement in Tubali Forest, Gumi was said to have met with about 150 armed Fulanis who expressed their grievances and why it would be difficult for them to surrender their arms.
The chairman of Shinkafi council reportedly said before the peace agreement with the bandits, there were frequent and rampant cases of kidnappings on Shinkafi-Gusau road while instances of frequent attacks with heavy casualties were rampant, adding that presently, the council had spent seven months without a single attack.
The bandit commander, identified simply as Bello, said, “Let the killings of our loved ones by security agents without due process of the law stop, as well as cattle rustling that denied most of us legitimate means of livelihood.”
At Makkai Forest, Gumi and his entourage met with more than 600 bandits with automatic rifles.
Their top commander, one Kachalla Turji, welcomed the Sheikh.
Like in Tubali, the bandits in Makkai expressed frustration at government attitude towards them.
Gumi said, “Let there be peace; you all have a legitimate concern and grievances, and I believe that since the Niger Delta armed militants were integrated by the Federal Government and are even in the business of pipelines protection, the Federal Government should immediately look into how something like that will be done to the Fulani to provide them with reasonable means of livelihood including jobs, working capitals, entrepreneurship training, building clinic and schooling.”
FG endorses Visit, Says Bandits Ready To Listen To Gumi Than Govt
Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed said on Friday that renowned Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi was in order when he met, earlier in the week, with a delegation of bandits who have been terrorising Zamfara State for some time now.
He said that given the cleric’s status, the bandits may be more disposed to listening to him than they would listen to government.
“It is not unusual for a respected cleric to have the confidence of (approaching) outlaws or bandits,” the minister said on Friday during TVC’s ‘This Morning’ show.
He added: “As a matter of fact, they are probably ready to listen to him more than they are ready to listen to the government. They are probably ready to believe him more.
“So, it is not unusual for him to act as a bridge between government and the outlaws in an attempt to find solution.
“What I am sure is that he must be working for peace.”
Gumi had visited camps of the bandits in the forests of Zamfara State to interview them on their grievances.
He told them to give peace a chance.
The cleric later visited Governor Bello Matawalle to brief him on his mission.
Gumi said that from what he had seen and heard from the gunmen they appeared to him as insurgents more than bandits.
Gumi’s Visit To Bandits: HURIWA Alleges ‘Grand Conspiracy’
Meanwhile, reacting to Gumi,s visit, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has advised the Department of State Security (DSS), and the Inspector General of Police, to fish out armed herdsmen, especially those in the forest before it gets out of hand.
It wonders why prominent Northerners like Katsina and Zamfara States governors and lately the Kaduna based Islamic cleric Dr. Gumi have had open interfaces with armed bandits in the North but the DSS is yet to arrest the suppliers of those sophisticated weapons being displayed openly during such publicised parleys.
The group said: “We suspect that there are vested interests supplying these weapons of mass destruction to armed Fulani herders also known as armed Northern bandits who have taken control of most forests across the Country. There may be a game plan to put pressure on the Federal government to set up an amnesty office for the soon to be declared repentant bandits to take the shape of the Niger Delta Amnesty office so as to create jobs for the boys now well armed.
“We wonder why the DSS has yet to catch up with the sponsors of these bandits but are often inundating the public space with irritating alarms as if it has become the “village town criers”. Is this why Nigerian public spend billions of public cash to maintain that once professionally excellent security institution?
“Please the DSS should be operated in line with the law setting it up so all the suppliers of weapons to armed non- state actors especially the armed Fulani herders attacking every community in the country through the forests are arrested prosecuted, sanctioned to save Nigeria from imminent war of ethnicities.”
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko in a statement issued on Thursday recalled that the renowned Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi, on Tuesday visited some bandits in the forests of Shinkafi and Gummi local government areas of Zamfara State, even as the Cleric was reported to have gone to another forest at Makkai Forest, where he and his entourage met with more than 600 bandits with automatic rifles. And their top commander, one Kachalla Turji, welcomed the Sheikh.
The Rights group citing media report said, like in Tubali, the bandits in Makkai expressed frustration at government attitude towards them even as Gumi said, “Let there be peace; you all have a legitimate concern and grievances, and I believe that since the Niger Delta armed militants were integrated by the Federal Government and are even in the business of pipelines protection, the Federal Government should immediately look into how something like that will be done to the Fulani to provide them with reasonable means of livelihood including jobs, working capitals, entrepreneurship training, building clinic and schooling.”
HURIWA has therefore alleged that there is more to it than meets the eyes if a detailed analysis of the interactions held between the Islamic Cleric and the armed bandits are anything to go by.
The group said: “The texture of the conversations pointed directly to a grand conspiracy to blackmail Nigerians into buying into any future suggestion that the government should set up an amnesty office for repentant Northern armed bandits.”
HURIWA asserted that by virtue of the National Security Agencies ACT, it was totally irregular and unconstitutional that DSS will do nothing to arrest persons welding sophisticated weapons just as politicians and Islamic clerics are photographed holding conversations with the terrorists and the armed Non- state actors will then speak like persons being owed by Nigerians.
HURIWA affirmed that under the establishment Act for SSS the law says: “There shall, for the effective conduct of national security, be established the following National Security Agencies, that is to say- (a) The Defence Intelligence Agency; (b) The National Intelligence Agency; and (c) The State Security Service.
“Besides, the general duties of the National Security Agencies are: (1) The Defence Intelligence Agency shall be charged with responsibility for- (a) The prevention and detection of crime of a military nature against the security of Nigeria; (b) The protection and preservation of all military classified matters concerning the security of Nigeria, both within and outside Nigeria; (c) Such other responsibilities affecting defence intelligence of a military nature, both within and outside Nigeria, as the President, or the Chief of Defence Staff, as the case may be, may deem necessary. (2) The National Intelligence Agency shall be charged with responsibility for-(a) The general maintenance of the security of Nigeria outside Nigeria, concerning matters that are not related to military issues; and (b) Such other responsibilities affecting national intelligence outside Nigeria as the National Defence Council for the President, as the case may be, may deem necessary, amongst others.”
