Popular Islamic Scholar Sheikh Dr Ahmed Mahmoud Gummi has opened up on his encounter during a trip to the camps of bandits in Zamfara State.
Worried by the high rate of insecurity in the country and particularly in the NorthWest region, the well-respected cleric visited the stronghold of the attackers, appealing to them to accept peace.
Read Also: I Have Never Given Vehicles To Bandits – Matawalle
Briefing Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State at Government House, Gusau, on Thursday, the cleric said the bandits have turned into insurgents following the bad treatment from the people of the state.
He, however, appealed to governments at all levels to make peace with the bandits, saying dialogue is the only option to end the menace.
‘In most of the bandits and Fulani camps we have visited in Zamfara, I come to understand that what is happening in the state is nothing but an insurgency.’
‘Some people are of the view that the bandits should be fought and killed, but what we understand is that majority of them are illiterates who need proper education and enlightenment,‘ he said.
Gummi said most of the bandits he came across are violent because of persistent attacks and harassment from a vigilante group.
He commended Governor Matawalle for introducing dialogue with the bandits as a means of ending banditry, charging other governors to emulate him.
It was gathered that Gumi’s visit to the camps was to spread the message of Islam and peace to the Fulani herdsmen and rid the country of kidnappings and banditry.
Gummi and his entourage were said to have first gone to the forest of Tubali and Makkai in Shinkafi LGA which were under the control of armed Fulani herdsmen.
At the first settlement in Tubali Forest, Gumi was said to have met with about 150 armed Fulanis who expressed their grievances and why it would be difficult for them to surrender their arms.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
