He restated that military action is only an attempt to deal with the fallout from social upheaval and cannot end banditry on its own. He asked Northern leaders to get together and devise a plan to bring peace back to the area, stressing the length of the conflicts that have been suffered, such as the 15-year Boko Haram insurgency and the 9-year banditry.
An Islamic Cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi had also argued that Nigeria is humiliating its military by sending them to fight bandits in the forest. He stated that dialogue will be effective in addressing the issue of banditry. According to him, the military only understands fire for fire and that the bandits don’t even possess firepower like the Nigerian army.
He said in an interview with Arise TV, ‘President Tinubu who is from the Southwest cannot come and bring peace to us in the North. It is us that must bring peace to ourselves and it’s not the military that will bring peace. I have said it again and again; Banditry can never be won on the battlefield.
We are just putting the military to clean up our mess. They are everywhere trying to solve this. So Northern leadership must come in, lock the door, sit down, and see how we can bring peace to our land. 15 years of Boko Haram, 9 years of Banditry. Are we going to continue like this forever? Is it going to be a forever war? We are all here in Abuja and our children in the villages are being taken away.” CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
