Controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has raised fresh concerns over the Nigerian government’s decision to classify armed bandits as terrorists.
He said the move has effectively shut down any remaining possibility of dialogue between religious leaders and the armed groups.
Gumi, who has previously been involved in controversial peace visits to bandit hideouts, said the new stance makes negotiation efforts impossible going forward.
Speaking in a video that has now gone viral, the cleric argued that the government’s approach could worsen the security situation rather than improve it.
He insisted that some of the armed groups had previously shown willingness to engage in dialogue, and that abandoning negotiation could escalate violence across affected regions.
He further questioned the rationale behind the terrorist designation, suggesting that it removes the only remaining channel of engagement that clerics once had with the groups operating in forested areas of the North-West.
Gumi said: “We don’t
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