Ahmad Gumi, a renowned Islamic preacher in Nigeria, has warned that if bandits are declared terrorists, foreign jihadists will flock to the country.
Gumi, who is known to have connections with bandits, has already requested that the federal government grant them amnesty.
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In response to recent requests for the bandits to be declared terrorists, Gumi stated in a message posted on his Facebook page on Sunday that the government would face harsh consequences if it did so.
The cleric also claimed that the bandits’ terrorism brand will attract some unemployed teenagers.
“The atrocities the Bandits are conducting presently in NW have increasingly become tantamount to terrorism because it is pure terrorism whenever innocent people are deadly victims,” the statement continues.
Innocence, on the other hand, is a relative term these days. We agreed that if their children and women are killed as well, they are culpable by association or collateral damage, and the bandits may believe the same. It is acceptable for vigilantes to lynch Fulani herders or anyone who looks like them based on their appearance, but it is unacceptable for the herdsmen to ransack villages in retaliation. They are persuaded that it is an existential war, and that in war, ethics are tossed to the wind.
The only thing working in Bandits’ favor is that no one else is interested in joining them in the NW due of its ethnic tone and hue. However, as soon as they are labeled terrorists – or Islamic terrorists, for that matter — direct international Jihadist movements will emerge. And it’s possible that a large number of unemployed adolescents may find it appealing. Shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and brandishing an AK47 against a’secular’ immoral society where impunity rules is a magnet for extremists and the underprivileged, which includes the bulk of our youth. These lethal terrorist organizations are already battling for the souls of these bandits.
This will give criminality a spiritual cover and eliminate the stigma of being associated with such actions, since they will claim to be fighting a “Jihad.” Is the greater society -as it is- morally strong enough to fight back in such a situation? This is the most likely outcome, and the cost is not justified. Nothing stops the kinetic actions from continuing without a semantics debate.
For over a decade, NE has been and continues to be destroyed by this craziness. NW will be in ruins sooner rather than later if we allow terror to infiltrate these naive, unexposed outlaws. IPOB is already devastating SE, and Igboho has started a chain reaction in SW. It’s a terrific recipe for people who wish to destroy the Northwest. Transform thieves into religious fanatics. So, tell me, what’s left of Nigeria?”