“If they leave banditry, they won’t have source of financing, not one kobo of Nigerian budget goes to them— Gumi defends terrorists 

“If they leave banditry, they won’t have source of financing, not one kobo of Nigerian budget goes to them— Gumi defends terrorists

Kaduna-based Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has blamed the Nigerian government’s refusal to enter talks with bandit groups for the persistence of violent attacks across parts of the country, arguing that dialogue, not only force, is needed to end the cycle of violence.

In a recent interview with a journalist, Sheikh Gumi said the bandits’ criminal activities are sustained by the need to finance their “war machine,” and that without a pathway to legitimate livelihoods many fighters will continue to resort to violence.

“If they leave banditry, they won’t have source of financing their war machine,” Gumi said. “The question you ask, why are they fighting then? You see, the herdsmen have gone through a lot of hardship. No government has really actually sat down to see into their plight, to modernize them, to even spend anything. Not one kobo of our Nigerian budget goes to them.”

Gumi painted a picture of marginalisation and desperation. He said many of the fighters — whom he linked to herdsmen communities — feel excluded from the political and economic life of the country and no longer identify as Nigerians, which, in his view, has pushed them to take up arms in what they perceive as an existential struggle.

“Now they feel they are fighting an existential war, they are going to be exterminated and they are fighting for their survival,” he said. “So there’s no question they can’t go, they cannot go into towns. They are confined to the bush, the forest. They don’t feel they are Nigerians. So now they are fighting the system to be recognized. There is no way they can leave their weapons. So the best way to tackle this is to come and sit down with them.”

The cleric’s comments add to an ongoing debate in Nigeria over how best to respond to banditry and rural violence—whether through intensified military action, community development and integration, or negotiated settlements. Sheikh Gumi has, in the past, been a controversial but prominent voice in calls for dialogue with armed groups; his latest remarks reiterate his long-standing position that engagement and socio-economic remedies are essential to lasting peace.

Authorities have not immediately responded to Gumi’s interview.

Nigerians say any move toward negotiation would raise complex legal and political questions, including how to ensure accountability for serious crimes while creating incentives for combatants to disarm.