“If Coup Plotters Who Committed Treasonable Offences Are Forgiven, Why Not Bandits?”- Sheik Gumi

Sheik Gumi

Prolific Islamic scholar, Sheik Gumi, has called on the federal government to grant amnesty to bandits involved in kidnapping and killing people.

According to him, if coup plotters and those that instigated the civil war could be forgiven, he sees no reason why bandits can’t also be forgiven.

He Said;

“I see no reason why we can not accept their (bandits) repentance and give them amnesty. You ask why do we give them amnesty but they told us specifically that they are ready to drop their arms and they don’t want to be pursued with legal actions after they repented.

“If the country could pardon coup plotters who committed treasonable offences in the era of military administration, the bandits can as well enjoy similar forgiveness even better under democratic rule.

“These people in the bush who have taken arms, they are criminals. I wonder who is not a criminal. Since Nigeria forgave coup plotters, forgave those that killed. Even those that instigated civil war; civil war that millions of people died, I see no reason why we can not accept their repentance.

“Since that is the bottle-neck and it is only the federal government that can give them that leverage. And strangely we found out that they are victims too. They were victims of profiling. So many of them were arrested and punished just for looking like herdsmen.”