Outspoken Islamic Cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has stirred fresh controversy after stating that Nigeria’s armed forces are not capable of defeating bandit groups through military action alone.
His comments have again placed him at the centre of national debate over how best to address the worsening insecurity across the country.
Gumi made the remarks during a recent interview with BBC on Tuesday, insisting that the government must shift its focus from solely relying on force to embracing dialogue.
He argued that the nature of banditry and guerrilla-style attacks makes it difficult for any conventional army to achieve a total victory on the battlefield.
According to him, even the military acknowledges limits to what weapons and operations can achieve.
“But even the military says that in dealing with this civil unrest and criminality, only 25% is kinetic action; the rest depends on the government, politics, and local communities. The military cannot do everything,” he said.
He doubled down on his argument by stressing that irregular fighters often outlast state forces around the world.
“Where have you ever seen the military defeat guerrilla fighters? Nowhere,” he added.
His comments come at a time when President Bola Tinubu’s government is implementing widespread security reforms.
The administration has made changes in service leadership, expanded intelligence operations, and introduced an emergency security plan aimed at disrupting violent groups responsible for mass kidnappings and rural attacks.
Gumi’s statement, therefore, lands amid heightened public expectations for results.
The cleric also addressed longstanding allegations that he maintains ties with bandit commanders.
Gumi explained that his earlier visits to the forests were part of attempts to push for peace during the height of the crisis.
He added that all such interactions ended once the federal government designated the groups as terrorists in 2021.
“I never went there alone,” he said.
“It was in 2021 when I was trying to see how we could bring them together. But unfortunately, the government at the time, the federal government, was not interested. They declared them terrorists, and since that time we have completely disengaged from all contact with them.”
Despite strong criticism from the public and several security analysts, Gumi insists his approach is based on global best practices.
He argued that nations often negotiate with insurgent and non-state armed groups when conflicts become prolonged and costly.
“When they say we don’t negotiate with terrorists, I don’t know where they got that from,” Gumi said. “It is not in the Bible, it is not in the Quran. America had an office negotiating with the Taliban in Qatar. Everyone negotiates with outlaws if it will stop bloodshed.”
The cleric described many of the armed groups causing havoc in the northwest as predominantly “Fulani herdsmen” who have slipped into a cycle of violence after losing control of their traditional means of livelihood.
He painted the situation as an “existential war” rooted in competition for grazing areas, noting that while the crisis started as farmer-herder clashes, it has now evolved into rampant criminal activity.
Gumi has been one of the most controversial figures in the national conversation on insecurity, especially after previous statements.
Recall, we earlier reported that the Islamic cleric suggested that abducting schoolchildren is a “lesser evil” compared to killing soldiers.