According to a report by Leadership News on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi, has defended his long-standing advocacy for dialogue with armed bandits, stating that refusing to negotiate with criminals is neither supported by religious teachings nor consistent with global security practices. Gumi emphasized that his approach is aimed at saving lives and promoting peace in affected communities.
He maintained that dialogue does not amount to condoning criminal acts but serves as a tool to reduce violence.
Sheikh Gumi highlighted that both the Quran and the Bible encourage peaceful resolutions and negotiation in situations where lives can be protected, he argued that religious teachings prioritize saving human life and resolving conflicts without unnecessary bloodshed.
According to him, rejecting dialogue outright contradicts these principles and ignores opportunities for conflict resolution that have been applied successfully in other parts of the world.
He revealed that his most recent engagement with bandit groups occurred in 2021, describing it as a “marathon” effort to bring together different factions for peace.
Sheikh Gumi explained that the initiative involved extensive discussions and attempts to unify the groups under a single understanding to reduce attacks on communities, he said the process required patience and careful negotiation to ensure that all parties could be brought to the table.
Sheikh Gumi noted that some state governments supported his efforts at the time, recognizing the potential for dialogue to reduce violence.
However, he stated that the federal government then was not supportive of the initiative, the lack of federal backing, he said, limited the effectiveness of the negotiations and led to challenges in sustaining peace efforts across affected regions.
He explained that when the federal government refused to engage and declared the bandit groups as terrorists, his team disengaged completely from the process.
Sheikh Gumi said that the declaration of terrorism effectively ended any formal contact with the groups, halting the dialogue and peace-building activities he had been leading, he emphasized that disengagement was a response to the government’s position and not a voluntary decision to abandon peace efforts.
Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi reaffirmed his position that negotiation and dialogue with armed groups remain valid strategies for protecting lives.
He stressed that religious teachings, combined with global practices in conflict resolution, support efforts to engage with adversaries under certain circumstances, he said his advocacy for dialogue will continue to focus on finding peaceful solutions and preventing further loss of life in affected communities.
He said: “When the federal government was not keen, they were declared terrorists. And since they were declared terrorists, we disengaged completely from every contact with them. View, More,
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