The herdsmen, are not terrorists; they are people who think they are fighting for their rights- Gumi

Ahmad Gumi, who happens to be an Islamic scholar, and a medical doctor who retired as captain in the Nigerian Army, during an interview on Trust TV’s Daily Politics, has said that herders are not terrorists as claimed by most people.

While he was talking during the interview

Gumi, during the interview was told that he actually covered a lot of ground as regarding the insecurity in the northern region, but he got frustrated and handed off the intervention, as he was asked what really happened.

While he was reponding to the question, he said that when he told the government to do A, they did the opposite and when he told them to sit down with these people, they did not.

He said, “In fact, we were able to gather most of the commanders that today, we wanted to sit down with them put an action plan and do what we did to Niger Delta militants, expecting to see results. It is their right. They have right to education and life of dignity. They are humans, so let’s bring them close, but the government will do the opposite.”

He said that people do call them bandits before, but now, we are now calling them terrorists and as a Muslim scholar, he could not deny that religion has told them that ,thousands of years they would have terrorists. The prophet told them that they would have youths at the end of time, that will be killing people. But people are not supposed to be killed in the name of God.

He said, “But these people, the herdsmen, are not terrorists; they are people who think they are fighting for their rights. They were displaced from their lands, and their grazing reserves have been encroached upon. Worst of it is that, if they had any case with anybody, they will not get mercy from the police, judges and local emirs.Everybody is against them because, they have cattle and they are easily framed, because they do not have access to the law, lawyers and educated people. So, we found out we could go in and embrace them, but the federal government of Nigeria, will always do something different.”