Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has renewed his call for dialogue with Boko Haram insurgents and armed bandits. He questioned why the Federal Government has not adopted the same approach used to resolve the Niger Delta militancy.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Gumi recalled how former President Goodluck Jonathan and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo both engaged militants in the Niger Delta creeks as part of peace efforts.
“The former President Jonathan visited delta militants in the creeks, so also the former vice president Osinbajo. They all came up with a program to tame the militants,” he wrote.
Gumi questions public criticism of dialogue
The cleric then posed a pointed question to critics of engagement with armed groups in northern Nigeria.
“Who is going to visit BH and Bandits to tame them without fools castigating them?” Gumi asked.
He argued that similar efforts to engage Boko Haram and bandits would likely attract widespread criticism. This is despite the precedent set during the Niger Delta crisis.
Niger Delta amnesty programme precedent
The Niger Delta amnesty programme, introduced in 2009 under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, led to the disarmament of thousands of militants. Former militants received vocational training and monthly stipends in exchange for surrendering weapons. The programme significantly reduced attacks on oil installations. It also restored relative peace to the region.
Jonathan had earlier initiated contact with militant leaders in 2007 while serving as vice president. He entered the creeks in Warri, Delta State, without armed security. He met former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo. Similarly, Osinbajo, while serving as acting president in 2017, visited Niger Delta communities. He met militants, traditional rulers, and other stakeholders.
Gumi blasts Burkina Faso’s Traore over Sharia stance
In the same Facebook post, Gumi also criticised Burkina Faso’s military leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, over his position on Sharia and governance. He described Traoré as too young and inexperienced to understand the complexities of religion, society, and global politics.
“Captain Ibrahim Traoré (born 14 March 1988), with his anti-Shariah stance, at the age of 38, with nothing but military training on his resume, is too naive to understand even the complicity of the society he is ruling under the gun, let alone the dynamics of contemporary geopolitics,” Gumi said.
“He has given the extremists the weapon they need to conscript more foot soldiers against his secular regime,” he added.
Gumi’s long history of advocacy
For several years, Gumi has maintained that negotiations remain a viable strategy for ending insecurity in parts of the North-West and North-East. He has personally visited camps occupied by armed bandits in states such as Zamfara. He said the engagements aimed to understand their grievances and encourage peaceful resolutions.
His position has continued to divide public opinion. While some Nigerians believe his outreach has facilitated the release of kidnapping victims, critics argue that such contacts risk legitimising groups accused of kidnappings and killings. Gumi has consistently denied supporting terrorism. He insists that his advocacy focuses solely on ending violence through dialogue, rehabilitation, and reconciliation.
Read also: ‘I’m a peaceful Nigerian’ — Gumi denies ties with bandits
