Like IPOB, Declaration Of Bandits As Terrorists Will Fail —- Sheikh Gumi
Days after a federal high court in Abuja proscribed the activities of armed bandits and declared them terrorists, popular Islamic scholar, Sheikh Gumi has said the court’s declaration was meaningless
Responding to the court judgment, Gumi in a statement by his media aide, Tukur Mamu, said declaring the herdsmen-bandits as terrorists is a decision taken for political expediency.
“The federal government has succumbed to media blackmail by a section of the country,” Gumi said;
“The decision by the government will not have any practical value because even before the declaration, they are being fought and treated as terrorists. So is just a nomenclature which I believe will not change the dynamics on ground.
“If you can remember, IPOB was also declared a terrorist organisation. The declaration was even backed by the order of the Court. But as you can see even the international community did not recognise FG’s declaration of IPOB.
“So it has failed to be effective or to achieve the desired results. They have not been banned from travelling to other countries while their citizenship remains intact, it has not been denounced. So what type of declaration is that?
“I sincerely hope that Nigerians will not take the herdsmen as terrorists but should regard the criminality of the few among them against innocent people as acts of terrorism just as we see IPOB and their attacks on security agencies and other northern citizens as acts of terrorism,” Gumi said.
