Sheikh Ahmad Gumi
By Our ReporterĀ
The federal government has announced that Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, has been invited for questioning by the Department of State Services (DSS) regarding his remarks concerning the activities of bandits in Nigeria.
The Minister of Information and Orientation, Mohammed Idris, made this disclosure during a press briefing at the State House in Abuja on Monday.
The minister said the Islamic cleric was not āabove the law,ā adding that the government has deemed it necessary to invite him for questioning.
Recently, Gumi called upon the Tinubu-led government to collaborate with him to negotiate with bandits.
He cautioned Tinubu against repeating what he characterised as the āmistakeā committed by former President Muhammadu Buhari, who declined to engage in dialogue with bandits.
āI am ready to lead a holistic dialogue between the government and bandits. It is a religious duty for me to do so for peace.
āI hope the present government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will listen by dialoguing with the bandits because the past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari refused to do so.ā
āThese bandits are getting more vicious. Before, they were not doing this. They are heading to softer targets, and we can only attribute this to the kinetic approach.
āNow we are fighting bandits. They are anonymous. You cannot fight someone you donāt even know. We said, Letās go in, let us know them, and letās map them outāknow who they are and where they belong. All this intelligence information is virtually not there.
āThe high-handed approach to the matter is what is making it worse. Now they are kidnapping children and threatening death, which they were not doing before. So, I think what to do is really go back to the drawing board and be truly non-kinetic,ā he said.