According to a report by Daily Post on Monday, May 25, 2026, Islamic cleric Ahmad Gumi has called on the Federal Government to consider granting amnesty to armed bandits operating across parts of the country.
Speaking during a press briefing held at his residence in Kaduna on Monday, Gumi said the government should adopt a rehabilitation strategy similar to the one being used for former Boko Haram members who surrendered to the Nigerian military.
He explained that individuals who abandoned insurgency and embraced peace had been reintegrated into society through rehabilitation programmes, adding that the same model could also be extended to armed bandits willing to renounce violence.
According to him, the country’s continued dependence on military operations over the years has not produced the desired results in tackling banditry and insurgency, especially in the northern region where attacks and kidnappings have persisted.
Gumi maintained that a different strategy was necessary if the country genuinely intended to address the crisis and restore stability in affected communities.
He said the current approach had failed to completely end the activities of criminal groups hiding in forests and rural areas.
The cleric further stressed the need for social intervention programmes aimed at transforming the lives of families linked to banditry, particularly children who have been deprived of access to formal education and other opportunities.
He said, “Let’s dislodge them from the forest. Let’s take their kids and enroll them in school. Let’s do something different but you know, when you want money to be used, when you want a budget to be spent, that’s when it will happen.”….Read_More…