Popular Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmed Gumi has asked that government pardons and grants amnesty to bandits just like it did to coup plotters and instigators of civil war that led to the death of several citizens of the country.
Gumi said this while reacting to the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna on Thursday, noting that there was need for bandits to be forgiven for the sake of peace.
The Islamic cleric said, “Even those that instigated the 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 noted that he never betrayed soldiers of Christian faith before the bandits when he visited them.
According to him, he was misunderstood by CAN because the video that went viral about his discussion with the bandits was distorted and the actual message was manipulated.
Gumi added, “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 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.”