Salihu Lukman, The Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) has blasted a popular Islamic cleric over his comment that declaring bandits as terrorists will come with a price, hinting that Nigeria would disintegrate if the Nigerian government tag bandits as terrorists.

 
 
 

Gumi shared some days ago, on his Facebook page that the moment bandits are declared terrorists in Nigeria, the direct foreign Jihadist movements will set in force, and many unemployed youths may find it palatable and attractive. These assertions by Gumi is coming several weeks after the The Nigerian Senate and the House of Reps asked Buhari to declare bandits as terrorists

 
 
 

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state also joined the Reps and senate to urge the president,  Muhammadu Buhari to declare bandits as terrorists, after several attacks and killings in the state, which has gotten to worse in recent times.

 
 
 

However, Salihu Lukman, on Thursday, backed the calls by the senate, reps, and Gov El-Ruai, for bandits to be tagged as terrorists, adding that both groups have the same characteristics and mode of operation.

 
 
 

Lukman described Gumi as a bandits apologist and self-appointed spokesman of the criminals who has continued to inflict pain on residents of the North West region of the country. Pointing out that it is increasingly becoming troublesome that Gumi more confident and irresponsibly mobilizing opposition against declaring bandits terrorists.

 
 

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“Interestingly, apologists and self-appointed counsels to the bandits, such as Sheikh Ahmed Gumi are becoming more confident, and are irresponsibly mobilising opposition against declaring bandits terrorists.”

“All the studies about insecurity have confirmed that the bandits operating in the North-west and North-central have all the characteristics of terrorist groups.

 
 

“For instance, a study by Dr. Murtala Ahmed Rufa’i, presented at the 15th Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto Seminar Series, on Thursday, September 9, 2021, titled, ‘I am a Bandit – A Decade of Research in Zamfara State Bandit’s Den’, reported that bandits are armed groups with ‘contacts across the Sahel, particularly Libya and Mali’, having ‘huge capital’, ‘in possession of more than 500 AK 47 guns’, and ‘own sophisticated weapons like RPG and Anti-Aircraft.’ The report indicated that ‘there are over 60,000 weapons in circulation in the north-west alone.”

 
 
 

Lukman advised the APC to always give information that will galvanise Nigerians to support the federal government’s fight against insurgency.

 

 “How APC can facilitate the reform of information management structures in the country to successfully mobilise Nigerians to support government initiatives will largely determine the electoral viability of the party.

 

“Once APC continues to allow speculative and false national debates such as the issue of unfounded agreement between Nigeria and US government on the use of the A-29 newly acquired Super Tucano jets, it is indicative of a weak communication management framework, which may only worsen the challenges facing the country.”

 
 
 

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