By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
The controversial troubleshooting mission embarked upon by Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, continued to attract diverse comments on Monday.
Sheikh Gumi had met with several groups of bandits in their camps inside the forests of Kaduna and Zamfara States where he preached to them and their Commanders to drop their arms and embrace peace.
In return, the cleric who said the bandits took up arms because they were offended asked for amnesty and compensation from the government for them.
But on Monday, Kaduna Governor Malam Nasir el-Rufai pointedly told Gumi that negotiating with bandits to drop their arms was a sheer waste of time.
El-Rufai said the bandits, who were hitherto in the business of selling a cow for N100, 000 cannot agree to drop their arms having been paid ransom running into millions of naira by kidnap victims.
Speaking on the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), monitored by TheNiche El-Rufai said rather than appease the bandits through negotiations, the north needs a strong and coordinated fight to end the bandits criminal activities.
He insisted that the peace deal initiated by the Islamic scholar was a total waste of time.
He argued but for lack of unity among Governors on how to deal with banditry, kidnapping and other related crimes, the bandits would have since been dealt with.
According to him: “A Fulani herdsman that was used to only getting a N100,000 in a year, after selling a cow, but now obtains millions of naira from ransom for kidnapping will never stop.
“Sheikh Gumi is my friend. What we discussed about the herdsmen is different from what he is doing now.
“And I believe anyone that tells me the approach is realistic, I will not subscribe to it. He is only deceiving himself and wasting his time, they will not stop,” El-Rufai said.
“I never believed that a Fulani herdsman who ventured into banditry and is collecting millions of naira as ransom will repent. I spoke to Dr. Gumi who is my friend, I explained that majority of these bandits don’t believe in the religion. That is why they kill mercilessly.
“Anybody who thinks a Fulani herdsman that was used to only getting N100,000 in a year, after selling a cow, but now is getting millions through kidnapping for ransom will stop, is only wasting his time.
“Why should they be compensated after killing people, they destroyed their houses. Who offended them?
“I told Sheikh Gumi that the majority of these Fulani bandits don’t believe in religion. Therefore, I don’t believe in what he is doing, that they should be forgiven and compensated.
“If any bandit is arrested in Kaduna State, the bandit will be killed because Kaduna is in war with bandits.
“They kill without mercy, they don’t believe in the religion,” he said.