Popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, who has been in the news lately over his involvement in negotiating with bandits, says those who proposed military action are now sad with their heads buried in the sand following the news of the release of the over 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in Zamfara state.
Gumi while reacting to the development, expressed happiness saying with dialogue alone, with no bullet shot, the innocent kidnapped girls were freed.
He accused the government of being more concerned about their macho image than human suffering.
In a statement signed by the Islamic scholar and made available to Roots TV Nigeria, he said those with the motive to disintegrate Nigeria are sad the mayhem is coming to an end.
He said: “Insha Allah – We will continue with dialogue until all militancy and illegal arms are put to rest. We will listen and proffer solutions. We will admonish and pray to the almighty to restore sanity to our land.’’
Gumi attributes disunity, interest groups, and mutual distrust as the causes of the insecurity plaguing Nigeria today.
The Saudi trained cleric says the leadership is preoccupied with image laundering, the media hollow and sensational, and the intelligentsia, unintelligent and absentminded.
Gumi repeated that the use of kinetic means in the past did not work against the armed Fulanis and the nation will continue to waste resources while insecurity will continue to consume poor citizens if the government fails to accept the reality that it does not have the manpower and capacity to fully tackle such difficult type of insurgency.
He urged the government to implore diplomacy as the best way of dealing with the current crisis and argued that if the armed Fulani’s received proper education, empowerment, and rehabilitation they will hardly go into any criminality and the society will also be safe.
