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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has denied allegations linking him to banditry and terrorism, insisting that his engagements with the armed groups were aimed solely at restoring peace in Nigeria.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, he accused unnamed ethnic interest groups, online content creators and individuals driven by prejudice, of deliberately twisting his public comments and media interviews to portray him as a supporter of insecurity.
“I hereby state that any video clip, written statement or message attributed to me suggesting support for banditry or terrorism does not emanate from me,” he declared.
The cleric warned that anyone circulating “fake, manipulated and doctored materials” against him would face legal action.
He described himself as a loyal Nigerian committed to ending violence through dialogue and reconciliation rather than military force alone.
“I have no association with insecurity in Nigeria. On the contrary, I am a peaceful citizen who loves this country more than anything,” he said.
Defending his controversial meetings with bandits in the past, he said the engagements were carried out with the knowledge of authorities and were intended to persuade fighters to surrender their weapons.
“I made them swear before God that they would stop stealing, stop killing and lay down their arms, and some of them did,” he said.
The cleric argued that relying solely on military operations would not end insecurity, claiming that several military officers had privately admitted that force accounts for only a fraction of the solution.
“The kinetic approach is just about 25 percent of solving this kind of problem,” he stated, calling for the government’s action to address poverty, ignorance and social injustice, which he described as root causes of violence.
He also addressed the controversy surrounding his travel experiences, including a reported visa-related issue during the 2025 Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
He suggested that the incident may have resulted from administrative or technical problems rather than security concerns.
The cleric further revisited his past involvement in efforts to counsel Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian convicted in the failed 2009 “underwear bombing” attempt on a US-bound airliner.
According to Gumi, Abdulmutallab’s father contacted him to help speak with his son after the young man became radicalised in Yemen.
“I spoke to him about Islam, coexistence and the dangers of extremism,” he said, insisting that his role was purely advisory and aimed at de-radicalisation. He warned against foreign interference in Nigeria’s security challenges and urged Nigerians to focus on national unity rather than blame games and sectional narratives.
“We must find solutions to our problems ourselves without creating more division,” he said.
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He expressed the hope that Nigeria would eventually overcome insecurity and that victims of violence would find healing through collective national efforts toward peace.
He also renewed his call for a non-kinetic approach to tackling insecurity in Nigeria, arguing that nearly two decades of military operations have failed to end terrorism and banditry across the country.
Speaking on the growing spread of insecurity from the North West to parts of Niger State and beyond, he questioned the effectiveness of relying almost entirely on military force since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009.
He said: “If the kinetic approach is not working for 17 years, why don’t we change the approach?”
According to him, Nigeria has spent years battling Boko Haram insurgents and armed bandits without achieving lasting peace, despite sustained military offensives.
He criticised previous state-level negotiations in places such as Katsina and Zamfara, saying the authorities merely paid off armed groups without implementing long-term rehabilitation and reintegration programmes.
“What Katsina did was to bring the bandits, give them money and allow them to go back. Why don’t we change the method?” he asked.
Gumi advocated a strategy centred on dialogue, rehabilitation, education and amnesty for repentant bandits willing to surrender their weapons.
“Let’s engage them. Let’s dislodge them from the forests. Let’s take their children and put them in school. Let’s do something different,” he said.
He argued that thousands of former Boko Haram fighters who reportedly surrendered under rehabilitation initiatives showed that non-military approaches could produce better results if properly implemented.
“These people told us they were ready to lay down their arms, but what were their conditions? Has anybody listened to them?” Gumi queried.
He said many fighters fear arrest or reprisals if they surrender, insisting that a structured amnesty programme would encourage more militants to disarm voluntarily.
“So give them amnesty so they don’t fear putting down their arms,” he said.
He also linked insecurity to broader governance failures and corruption, warning that crime could not be defeated while public officials were accused of looting public funds.
“We don’t want to hear of government officials swallowing billions of Naira while talking about fighting criminals,” he stated. “Crime is crime. There is no justification for any crime.”
He called for sanity in governance and urged leaders to uphold integrity while promoting peaceful coexistence among Nigeria’s religious and ethnic groups.
“We want a society that is clean from the leaders to the citizens,” he said. “And we want peaceful coexistence between all religions, all ethnic groups and all people together.”
