In September 2021, I argued in this column that noted Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi’s proposal that the state negotiates with bandits as panacea for peace in parts of the North, was downright dangerous.
If I understand correctly, these gunmen are not going to disarm and ride off into the sunset, but would remain a permanent feature of our landscape – albeit under terms agreed by all sides. Nigeria is a special country, but I am yet to find any sane society committed to law and order that would countenance such an idea.
Four years on, as the country battles to rein in these amoral killers spreading across the landscape like a rash, Gumi is at it, again, preaching his doctrine of deadly cohabitation.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC yesterday, he maintained that negotiating with bandits is a necessary approach because the military cannot defeat these bands of unconventional gunmen.
A virtual fountain of controversial theories, Gumi further argues that the kidnapping of schoolchildren is a “lesser evil” compared to killing soldiers – insisting that Nigeria must negotiate to prevent greater bloodshed and end terrorism.
In my piece titled “Sheikh Gumi and the politics of dialogue”, I stated that his proposals were illogical and impracticable. That article is reproduced here today as a riposte to what the influential cleric is hawking.
***Sheikh Gumi and the politics of dialogue
(First published September 8, 2021)
Two words often used to describe Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, are respected and controversial. The adjectives – especially the latter – are well-earned.
He’s had a lot to say about the violence ravaging the Northwest. His positions often verge on the outrageous and illogical. Sometimes, he’s just one breath away from sounding like an advocate for the bandits.
His latest intervention denounces the military offensive against criminal elements terrorising Zamfara and surrounding states. He argues it’s akin to pouring petrol on the flames.
In a statement titled ‘Zamfara: The Flaring of Crisis,’ he said in part: “Let us face the reality, these herdsmen are going nowhere, and they are already in battle gear, and we know our military very well, so before things get messy, we need cold brains to handle this delicate situation. It’s common sense that if you allow your neighbours to be your enemy you are already conquered. Because they can easily be used against you by other forces.
“Military actions in the past have worsened the situation stimulating herdsmen resistance. Any more action will push them closer to religious fanaticism. It gives them protection from discrediting them as thieves and also reinforces their mobilization of gullible young unemployed youth as we saw with BH (Boko Haram).”
He suggested that unless an amnesty programme like that given militants in the Niger Delta is instituted, bandits are “going nowhere.” Sadly, the immediate victims of those “going nowhere” are Gumi’s fellow northerners.
His amnesty envy is another way of saying “give us our own hand-outs or the killing and the maiming will continue.” It’s prescribing the same medication for different ailments just because the symptoms are similar. It’s an approach that’s not only ignorant but dishonest.
The uprising in the Niger Delta was the result of decades of environmental degradation of the land and creeks – denying the people of their livelihood; worsening poverty in a region whose oil is the mainstay of the economy.
The militants targeted economic assets of the Federal Government and foreign oil companies. They were not engaged in indiscriminate killings, or abduction of women and school children for ransom. They didn’t invade rural communities, burning scores of homes for no just cause.
When the attacks on oil facilities were almost grounding the economy, government quickly worked out interventions to address the region’s issues. In addition to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) created by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, a ministry and amnesty programme were unveiled by the successor Yar’Adua government.
The amnesty was to wean the fighters from illegal bunkering and other criminal acts. It was only a part of a larger package that reached out to other ordinary citizens.
But let’s not forget that the Nigerian military and security agencies fought the militants for several years because they took up arms against the state and its interests.
Any solution to what’s happening in the Northwest must honestly address its roots. Why have these people resorted to violence? There’s widespread consensus that lack of economic opportunities flowing from failure to develop the region is to blame.
Bandits in Zamfara are in the forests because crime pays huge dividends. Ransoms are in the multimillions. Illegal mining is lucrative, while cattle rustling is another route to quick riches.
The Boko Haram insurgency, on the other hand, was driven by the radical religious teachings of the late Mohammed Yusuf summarised in the proposition ‘Western education is evil.’ They didn’t become fundamentalist because government dealt harshly with the sect; they were that way from the get-go.
But Gumi now argues that the bandits, who are just thieves with AK-47s, could be driven to embrace religious extremism by the military offensive. That’s laughable; it’s manufacturing a raison d’etre on the go, one that fits the moment.
He says dialogue is the only way out because the military don’t have a monopoly on violence. Ridiculous! There are many other violent criminals confronting security agencies across the country. Why not apply the same solution to them so we can experience total peace in our time? Why make a special arrangement for bandits?
Have we lost all sense of what constitutes a crime, good and bad? How should the state react when errant citizens violently attack others, dispossessing them of their properties or denying them liberty?
There’s a time for everything and the time for negotiations will come. But to suggest there should be no military intervention even when killings and abductions are occurring daily; when bandits have built capacity to bring down an Air Force jet and strike within the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), is truly shocking!
With certain enemies dialogue isn’t an option because they aren’t amenable to reason. Bandits are neither honourable nor reasonable. The only option is to defeat them by force of arms, while intervening socially and economically in their operational environment to deny them a recruitment pool.
Perhaps Gumi needs to have a quiet chat with Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, who came to office with the dialogue singsong. Where has it gotten him? Not long ago he was moaning about how his efforts haven’t yielded fruit and the situation was deteriorating.
There’s also Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, another one-time advocate of dialogue who famously posed for photos with an AK-47-totting bandit, but has since forsworn the option. He has acknowledged with exasperation that the word of a criminal is worthless.
In all the time Gumi has been preaching to bandits how many have repented and renounced violence? The conversion rate could help convince cynics that his way is best.
Unfortunately, even after his well-publicised interventions in major abductions in Zamfara and Niger States, the gunmen blew a lot of hot air but still collected their ransom. Dialogue stopped nothing because kidnapping has become a meal ticket in the region.
The ongoing military action may not be a perfect solution but it puts pressure on the gunmen and deflates their momentum. There’s an urgent need to beat back the threat they represent and create a level of stability that allows for other governmental action.
If the military don’t substantially degrade their capabilities they would come to any dialogue with a strong hand and guns pointed at our collective heads.
Bandits are bullies hiding behind big guns to perpetrate atrocities. Psychologists will tell you appeasement empowers the bully, while confrontation stops him dead in his track. Resisting the evil in the Northwest is long overdue. Gumi can preach the rest of his sermon to the marines!
