Kaduna-based cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has resumed his pro-bandit advocacy, calling on Nigerian authorities to “make peace with bandits” like the U.S. and Israeli authorities have done with Hamas.

Mr Gumi made this call in a Facebook post on Monday, referencing the ceasefire between Palestine and Israel brokered by American President Donald Trump.

“Peace between Israel and Hamas they term as terrorists brokered by USA. Who said there is no peace with terrorists?” Mr Gumi said.

The cleric charged the Nigerian government to “make peace with bandits and let us have peace.”

Mr Gumi’s renewed advocacy for the Nigerian government to make peace with bandits has elicited responses from some of his followers.

Responding to Mr Gumi’s post, Aisha Oyebisi Oyetunji, a Facebook user, said, “What do you mean peace with bandits? What are the bandits’ demands?”

Another Facebook user, Awwal Abubakar Imam, said, “Do you consider Hamas and bandits the same? Is the action of Hamas the same as that of the bandits?”

Before now, Mr Gumi had said it is Islamic to seek peace with bandits. The cleric had also called for amnesty for bandits like the Niger Delta militants.

However, unlike the Niger Delta militants who took up arms against the Nigerian state over a decade ago, demanding a fair share of resources tapped from their oil-rich region, the bandits have continued to kill and kidnap en masse for ransom across Zamfara, Sokoto, Yobe, Katsina, Niger, and Kaduna states.
Past dialogue and peace deals reached with bandits by state governors have failed to yield any significant results regarding peace in the affected states.