Gumi has consistently advocated dialogue with armed groups operating in Nigeria’s North-West and North-East, arguing that negotiations, rather than military action alone, offer a more sustainable path to ending the violence.
Controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has questioned why no government official has attempted to engage Boko Haram insurgents and bandits through dialogue, similar to the approach adopted by former President Goodluck Jonathan and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in addressing militancy in the Niger Delta.
Gumi made the remarks in a Facebook post on Saturday, where he recalled how Jonathan and Osinbajo visited militants in the Niger Delta creeks and subsequently introduced programmes aimed at ending the prolonged insurgency in the oil-rich region.
“The former President Jonathan visited delta militants in the creeks, so also the former vice president Osinbajo. They all came up with a program to tame the militants,” Gumi wrote.
The cleric questioned why a similar approach had not been adopted in tackling insecurity in northern Nigeria by the President Bola Tinubu-led government.
