Following the recent kidnappings in Kaduna State and the demand of 40 trillion naira as ransom by the bandits, Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has suggested that the government should have a dialogue with them (bandits) rather than pay any ransom for the victims’ freedom.
Gumi in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Thursday, said the bandits only pitched the ludicrous amount of N1 billion naira ransom as a bargaining tool. He also said there is need for a change of approach by the Nigerian government to issues of banditry and terrorism.
“I believe no ransom should be paid but engage these people, give them hope and not only in this children’s case. I’m so sad that the leaders are just realizing that it is turning into a war. It has been a war and not mere criminality. If we can see Israel and Hamas sitting down to exchange prisoners, I don’t see why we cannot negotiate.
“I support that the government should not pay any ransom but what I say is that the government must dialogue and from my knowledge about their psychology, that amount they are pitching is because they want to have a bigger bargaining power, otherwise, I don’t think in their wildest dreams, they would think the government would give them that money.
“What is happening now is that we are seeing that these bandits are getting more and more vicious. Before now, they don’t do what they do now. We can only attribute that to the kinetic approach which is over emphasized. When we hear the politicians talk, nothing is done about it to overcome these people. For example, now we are fighting bandits.
“They are anonymous, how can you fight who you do not even know? You say lets go in, map them out and all but all these intelligence information are not there. How can you know somebody from satellite and the high-handed approach is what is making it worse. They are now kidnapping small children and they are threatening death which they don’t do before. So, I think what we need to do is go back to the drawing board and truly be non-kinetic.
“When the victims of the train attack were held, a committee was set by the military in the former government and they were able to contact them, same way journalists have been able to contact them. If they are not there, it will be difficult to contact them but what you don’t know is that they are foot soldiers. “We need a program just like you have for the Niger Delta. A program that will bring them out of the forest, on the premise of educating them, giving them healthcare, and giving them a peaceful life. This is how you entice people to avoid violence and militancy.
“But when you continue dropping bombs, spraying gas on the women and children, they find no sympathy and empathy for our children. So, this is it, an eye for an eye. So, we have to change our tactics, we have to change our style. What we have been doing has not been productive. If we can have a channel where we can have dialogue with them, understand them and promise them what we can do, I think that is a better way. We are turning them into monsters, more monstrous than what they are. They are ignorant, they don’t have direction, leadership, they don’t have empathy as it is now because of the way we took them too, until when we change our tactics and allow the people who know.
“From my past experiences from the former regime, I think they are bent on kinetics, something we know that can only compound the issue. So, I have not reached out to anybody. The government knows what is right to do. In fact just ask them how they got the train victims out finally at the end. They know and have a committee of experts and academicians who do the negotiations.”
The Cleric also stated that it is rather humiliating to have the military get involved in issues of civilian insurgency.
“Also, the military, I was in the military myself and I think it is humiliating to say the military should take care of civilian insurgency. All we need is very good detective work, very good policing and very good social programs. These people hide civilians and do what they do. Let us not humiliate and disgrace our military. This is not their job. It is the job of the politicians, police and intelligence.
“We need to see how we can organize ourselves to see how we can circumvent these people. It is very easy. From our estimation and statistics, we don’t think they are more than a hundred thousand people in the forest.”
Gumi further said contrary to the belief of many, there is no political undertone to these attacks as it affects everyone regardless of party or religion.
“There is no political undertone to it. Infact, everybody is suffering from this, irrespective of their party, religion and sex. Everybody is a victim. We should know that we are fighting a group of people that have been neglected, oppressed and the only way they can hurt us is through these targets. this is what we understand.”
Chioma Kalu
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Reality is that, what Nigeria presently has on her hands is low-intensity warfare, by some (invited?) foreigners who are intent on grabbing territory. And, in a world- and not Nigeria alone - that is so full of injustice, it is very easy for just about any disgruntled persons or groups to drum up any reasons to be angry with the rest of society. The first question we should ask of those Sheikh Gumi is advocating for, is whether ,or not, they are actually Nigerians; because , a plethora of anecdotal evidence abound which strongly suggests that, they are not Nigerians, in the first place; hence the reason that they are holding guns to our heads, and asking us to admit them into our patrimony, simply on account of their kinship to their settled kith and kin in Nigeria.
The bandits are turning into monsters because the Nigerian Army is not effectively fighting them, and not because of the bombing. The Nigerian Army is fighting the right war, with the wrong method: they are fighting reactively, instead of fighting proactively; fighting reactively gives the initiative to the enemy and allows the enemy to fight us on their own terms i.e. at a place , time and with the method they choose. Secondly, we have given the bandits too much time, freedom and space to operate in. How about shutting down a key aspect of the war economy that drives this insurgency i.e. their logistics lines ? E.g., the Nigerian Customs Service know all smugglers operating across all our land and sea boarders, and they know their specialities. All that needs to be don is to drop a word in the ears of these smugglers that the smuggling of guns and drugs (two items that drive the insurgency) is strictly prohibited, and warn those who specialise in smuggling these items that there will be hell to pay for any one of them that violates this warning. Additionally, the saboteurs from within who also sell arms to, and facilitate other activities of , the insurgents should be fished out and severely dealt with, with punishment as high as death, where applicable.
Negotiating with bandits is a no brainer, as the current Minister of Defence (and former Governor of Zamfara state) and the former Governor of Katsina state have both come to realised. Bandits are people who do not keep any agreements. In any case, that they can operate so brazenly as they did in the past week, suggests that they are on the ascendancy, and no warrior negotiates a surrender when they are on the ascendancy. Therefore, if they ever agree to negotiate at all, it will be from a position of strength, and it will not be to surrender, but to enhance their position, thus implying that they can resume their insurgency whenever they please. And this explains why negotiations with bandits has never worked. Hence, to effectively negotiate with bandits, we must first beat them silly, and leave them with no other option than negotiation, on our own terms. Granting that government should normally have the largest resources, farthest reach, biggest guns and brains in the land; then it should be possible to beat the insurgents silly.
In any case, and as Sheikh Gumi himself has acknowledged, these bandits are largely “anonymous”; and since it is a trite principle of assistance that, populations that are untraceable, are practically unhelpable, and this being especially true with a government that has not been able to help those of us who daily beg in front of their offices and at their gates, for assistance; then this begs the question of how those who hide away in remote bushes can be helped?