Nigerian Islamic clergyman, Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi has said that Nigerians should stop labelling the bandits as ‘criminals’ and that other respected individuals need to pull them closer.
Sheikh Gumi has reinstated that the bandits are not criminals and that insulting and castigating them on the media will not solve the issue. According to him, the government and clerics need to dialogue with them and they would listen.
He stressed that the government must help them drop their arms and become good citizens. While speaking on Arise Television, he stated that the bandits have grievances and these grievances need to be heard by Nigerians and the government.
In his words;
“The respected people in society – the clergy should approach them. They need people to bring them closer and show them the soft side. You, as a journalist, should write things that will bring people together.
“Castigating and abusing bandits through the media will not address the issue. Government and the clergies need to speak with the bandits and dialogue with them and they will listen. The government must help them to drop arms and criminalities and become good citizens of Nigeria,
“Government should, therefore, understand the grievances of the bandits and tell them to go and sin no more,” Gumi said.
Taking a swipe at the press he said that the Nigerian journalists are criminals because they have labelled the outlaws- bandits as criminals.
“You are emphasising on criminality, I don’t know. Even the Press (journalists) are criminals too because they are putting oil into fire. These people are listening to you, don’t address them as criminals if you want them to succumb,
“Youths are ready to put down their weapons, now they are hearing you call them criminals, how do you want them to cooperate. So you have to show them that they are Nigerians and that they should not hurt children and that they should be law abiding, these are the language we want to hear from the Press to assist us in getting the boys.
“When we talk to them in nice a wordings they are ready to put their weapons down, they are ready to listen to us, but when the language is about criminality, kill them, jail them, then this is what we will end up having,” he said.
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