Controversial Islamic Cleric, Shiekh Ahmad Gumi has warned the Nigerian Government to stop using Military force on Bandits in the North.
Gumi, in a statement posted on his facebook page on Monday, warned that it will only exacerbate the situation.
He expressly warned that the recent military force going on in Zamfara State against the bandits and herdsmen is counterproductive and might not yield the most positive results.
The cleric disclosed that if those who were at the helm of affairs promoted literacy and economic empowerment, the state could have become a shining example for others.
“This massive movement of rustled cattle greatly reduced their population. Most of the rustling first affected the rural herdsmen and it became more elaborate in the North-Western region.”
“Herdsmen were left with only one of three options, to join the rustlers or pay tribute to rustlers for protection or lose their cattle. In 2014, the military ‘intervention’ in the Birnin-Gwari Forest to fight cattle rustling changed the headsmen into a resistance movement as many innocent Fulani Ruga settlements were murdered, men, women, and children in hundreds.”
“Military actions in the past have worsen(ed) 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 reinforce their mobilization of gullible young unemployed youth as we saw with BH.”
