Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has renewed his call for dialogue with Boko Haram insurgents and armed bandits, arguing that the Federal Government should consider the same approach that was adopted to resolve the Niger Delta militancy.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Gumi questioned why government officials had not initiated direct engagement with armed groups operating in northern Nigeria, drawing parallels with the peace efforts that involved former President Goodluck Jonathan and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in the Niger Delta.
Reflecting on those interventions, the cleric wrote: “The former President Jonathan visited delta militants in the creeks, so also the former vice president Osinbajo. They all came up with a program to tame the militants.”
He argued that similar efforts should be considered for communities plagued by insurgency and banditry in the North, while lamenting what he described as public criticism directed at anyone advocating dialogue.
Posing a rhetorical question, Gumi said: “Who is going to visit BH and Bandits to tame them without fools castigating them?”
For several years, Gumi has maintained that negotiations remain a viable strategy for ending insecurity in parts of the North-West and North-East. As part of that position, he has visited camps occupied by armed bandits in states such as Zamfara, saying the engagements were aimed at understanding their grievances and encouraging peaceful resolutions.
The cleric has consistently maintained that the dialogue-based model used to address militancy in the Niger Delta could also help reduce violence in northern Nigeria, arguing that military action alone may not produce lasting peace.
His position, however, has continued to divide public opinion. While some Nigerians believe his outreach has contributed to the release of kidnapping victims and opened channels for peaceful engagement, critics argue that such contacts risk legitimising groups accused of kidnappings, killings and other violent crimes.
A retired military officer, Gumi has repeatedly rejected allegations that he supports terrorism, insisting that his advocacy is focused solely on ending violence through dialogue, rehabilitation and reconciliation.
Nigeria’s Niger Delta amnesty programme, introduced in 2009 under the administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and later sustained by President Goodluck Jonathan, led to the disarmament of thousands of militants through a package of vocational training, monthly stipends and reintegration initiatives. The programme is widely credited with reducing attacks on oil installations and improving security in the oil-producing region.
Jonathan’s involvement in resolving the Niger Delta crisis began earlier, in 2007, when he served as vice president. He travelled into the creeks of Warri, Delta State, without an armed escort to meet former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo. Jonathan later said the engagement helped lay the foundation for the amnesty programme.
Years later, in 2017, then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo also embarked on a series of visits to Niger Delta communities, where he met militants, traditional rulers and other stakeholders. He defended the outreach by saying those in the creeks were Nigerian citizens with legitimate concerns that deserved engagement rather than being viewed solely through the lens of security.
(Ripples)