Insecurity: FG Not Opposed To Gumi, Others Meeting With ‘Armed Bandits’–Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said there’s nothing wrong if anyone holds meetings with bandits terrorising the country so long as achieving peace was the objective of such meetings.

Jude Johnson

Mohammed, who spoke during a radio programme on Sunday in Lagos, was reacting to the mixed reactions trailing recent meetings held with leaders of bandits in Zamfara and Niger States by popular Islamic scholar, Sheik Ahmad Abubakar Gumi.

Gumi had made headlines after he met with the supposed bandits that kidnapped no fewer than 52 people, including 27 students, during separate attacks on Government Secondary College Kagara and some communities in Shiroro Local Government Area, both in Niger State.

But speaking during the radio programme, Mohammed said the government would not oppose anyone meeting with bandits so long it would promote peace in the country.

“After war, people still sit to dialogue. So, if some people have taken it upon themselves to visit these people so that they can embrace peace, I don’t think there is anything wrong with that,” said the minister.

Omokri had also faulted Gumi for allegedly failing to visit, “victims of bandits or call for justice for those murdered by them.”

He claimed that the Islamic cleric, “went to Niger without paying condolence visit on the Kagara school. But he met terrorists and advocated for them. ‘Do not be an advocate for the deceitful’-Quran 4:105”

Omokri added that, “Even if you are a member of Living Faith, and you commit crime, Bishop Oyedepo will hand you over to be prosecuted. It is the right thing to do. How can a man of God meet with killers and campaign for their interests, rather than their victims, like Gumi is doing?”