Famous Islamic Cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi insists that if the Government can forgive coup plotters who committed treasonable felonies, extending such kindness to bandits would not be a wrong idea.
Gumi said this while responding t the Christain Association of Nigeria in Kaduna on Thursday, stating that forgiveness for the bandits was needful for the country to have peace.
Gumi said, “Even those that instigated civil war, the civil war that millions of people died, were pardoned. I see no reason why we cannot accept their (bandits) repentance and give them amnesty.”
Gumi revealed that he had never worked against the Christain faith soldiers when he visited the bandits.
He added that CAN misunderstand him because the viral of him meeting with bandits was distorted, and the real message was manipulated.
Gumi opined, “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 offenses 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 the civil war, the civil war that millions of people died, I see no reason why we cannot accept their repentance.
“Since that is the bottleneck, and it is only the Federal Government that can give them that leverage. 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.”
