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General News of Thursday, 11 March 2021

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Sheikh Gumi describes Nigerians calling for his arrest as 'clowns'

Outspoken Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi Outspoken Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi

Outspoken Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has reacted to calls for his arrest because of his recent meeting with some suspected bandits.

Sheikh Gumi described those calling for his arrest as clowns noting that some government officials were also part of the meeting with the bandits.

He told Daily Post that he is not the first cleric to hold a dialogue with the bandits.

He said, “Even the Kaduna State governor dialogued with them, Zamfara governor dialogued with them.

“I’m not the first person that started dialoguing with them (bandits). I only added value, and I find them to be religious; religion is the only thing that teaches you that blood has sanctity. So this is the religious angle.

I’m trying to gather them and teach them that there is sanctity to life. They cannot kill, rape and so on. This is the addition I hope will work. Note, I never visited these bandits without a government official, but they are in the background.

“All the bandits we met were with government officials, and that is why I said those calling for my arrest are clowns.”

He added that his dialogue with the bandits has started yielding positive results.

“My interaction with bandits has yielded instant results. When you are dealing with somebody engrossed in criminality, if you approach him as a policeman, you will have a problem but if you come to him as a pastor, he will confess all his sins to you.

“So we approach them as clergy, and they feel comfortable to vomit all their problems. Hence, we see how we can appease and help them.

“We are not approaching them as an authority but from the spiritual angle. You know every human being has that spiritual influence, and that is why we are adopting that,” he said.