“There is little room for further conviction that what is happening is the commercialization of crime” ―Ebuka Onyekwelu
In what looks like something that will never come to be; a day, where regular criminals will suddenly attain sainthood; that day is here with us. A popular Kaduna-based Islamic cleric and scholar has gradually moved from meeting bandits to asking for amnesty for terrorists and bandits and then exonerating them of any wrongdoing, as well as normalizing their crimes against the state and citizens. It did not end there as he has asked for amnesty for the bandits and has gone another step higher to caution that media should not refer to bandits and terrorists as criminals. At this point, Sheikh Gumi easily passes as a rights and dignity advocate for bandits, such an irony! “They are persecuted and lynched”, Gumi said in one of his interviews.
This is to say that terrorists and bandits are “persecuted and lynched”, in other words, bandits and terrorists should freely inflict terror and kill at will without being disturbed. Now in another twist, an apparent show of solidarity with the bandits, Gumi assured them that their Muslim brothers will not kill them. To this claim, there could be a thousand and one interpretations, but again, the unmistakable message is that perhaps, northern Muslims are at home with the activities of the bandits.
For a few weeks now, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi has appointed himself Nigeria’s envoy on banditry and terrorism and has been meeting with bandits at different locations in the north. Last week, he declared that all the bandits should be given amnesty. “Give them blanket amnesty, if somebody continues, then he can be persecuted”, Gumi said. Thereby arrogating to himself the power to effectively neutralize the laws of Nigeria on terrorism and related crimes. In essence, what this means is that we are beginning to mainstream discussions on whether terrorists and bandits should be accepted back as normal citizens without questions and without any recourse to all the heinous crimes they have committed against the state. Before then, in an apparent, but usual north vs south divide narrative that often serves the political interest of northern elites, Gumi had conveniently compared Biafra and Oduduwa separatist groups, to Boko Haram and bandits, insisting that they are all the same. While we were still trying to get over this stun, it gets even worse. On Wednesday last week, Gumi called journalists criminals because a journalist called bandits criminals in the cause of his interviewing Sheikh Gumi, on national television.
At the rate all these are playing out, if there is any humanity left in the bandits themselves, they would be shocked at the manner Sheikh Gumi has defied good conscience and justice in pursuit of fuzzy peace. Such peace as advanced by the Sheikh does not exist anywhere. Peace is a natural-born child of justice and fair play, and not something to be secured at a cost higher than its value. Nature itself is governed by the principle of cause and effect. In a similar manner, Nigeria is a country governed by laws in which instance one is either a law-abiding citizen or a criminal and while one goes with certain privileges, the other carries with it distinctive consequences depending on the weight of crime committed.
Armed gangs inflicting this level of injury do not need an advocate.
In the north, tens of thousands of people have been displaced by bandits and terrorists. Thousands have been gruesomely murdered by the bandits. Several thousand others live in dire trepidation and absolute disillusionment, purely on account of the criminal activities of these gangs. Armed gangs inflicting this level of injury do not need an advocate. They are not victims, as the Sheikh makes them look. The victims are the ones, for years, merely existing in different IDPs. They are the ones in need of support, whose rights and dignity need to be protected. Between January and February of this year alone, nearly a thousand school children have been kidnapped from different locations across the north, for ransom. When paid, the ransom remains the fuel with which the circle of crime and violence is sustained. Two days ago, over three hundred schoolgirls were kidnapped from their school in Zamfara, just like the over two hundred schoolboys kidnapped in Katsina earlier, were released. With those, there is little room for further conviction that what is happening is the commercialization of crime. This fact is lavishly comprehensible and people like Sheikh Gumi who, refusing to face this hard reality insists on bending the rules and deforming the state to make room for criminals, are not peace ambassadors. They are agents of large-scale destabilization. No country can survive the long-term implications of “blanket amnesty” for armed criminal gangs and terrorists, who, relying on their arms create a vast industry of crime, for profit.
It is entirely up to Nigeria to stop them or brace up for the worse.
And so Gumi’s latest advocacy for bandits and terrorists will undoubtedly produce the exact opposite result he appears to be advancing for the simple reason that there is no way, the vast crime industry built by bandits in the north will dissolve and cease to exist on account of peaceful negotiation. This is so because, among other reasons, the bandits are negotiating from a position of power and obvious advantage. They have nothing to lose and so they will simply not stop and therefore have to be stopped by the state. Here, it is entirely up to Nigeria to stop them or brace up for the worse.
Looking in contrast at the arguments put forward in favour of bandits by Sheikh Gumi, the shocking thing is that Sheikh Gumi has not been as concerned, vocal, and committed as he is to bandits and terrorist rights’ and humanity, as the rights and humanity of thousands of displaced citizens throughout the north on account of banditry. Is that not a far worthy and noble cause than hanging around weapon-wielding gangs, killing and maiming innocent people, causing hardship, destroying the fabrics of organized society, and then telling us they are not criminals? It is as if victims of widespread criminality in the north do not matter, but their tormentor matters. Such a tragic circumstance!
Whatever noble cause Sheikh Gumi may think he is going to achieve with his newfound truth, speaking in defense of bandits, his advocacy proves to be a burdensome, provocative, and failed effort at redefining banditry and crime. Such advocacy is in fact a promotion of organized violence. No state or country should dine and wine with armed gangs usurping its authority and challenging its legitimacy. The Sheikh can do well to channel his passion and enthusiasm to a more faultless cause, while the bandits face the consequences of their actions now or later, otherwise, we should all be in the know that Gumi is dancing around what will sink the ship of the country when Nigeria eventually pays for its stiltedness.
♦ Ebuka Onyekwelu, strategic governance exponent, is a columnist with the WAP
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