Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State has berated renowned Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abubakar Ahmed Gumi, for dialoguing with bandits in the North-west.
Speaking during an interview with Channels TVon Wednesday, Masari questioned the knowledge of the Islamic scholar on security issues.
“Was he there? What did he know about what we did in Kaduna? I challenge Gumi to come and tell us if he knows what we did in Kaduna,” the governor said in reaction to Gumi’s stance on how the state government is handling banditry.
“The stories they are telling him are the stories they said in 2015, the same story in 2019. What does he know about the forest? Is he victimizing killings?”
While faulting Gumi’s suggestion to the state governments, Masari said the bandits needed moral and spiritual support to realise the evil perpetrated by killing people.
“I don’t support Sheikh Gumi’s intervention because he did not do it rightly. I expect him to, first of all, preach to them (the bandits), the implication of killing innocent people and also the implication of abducting people and its consequences. That is what I expect a clergyman first and foremost to do,” he added.
Speaking further, Masari who is also the Chairman of the North-west Governors’ Forum, said he strongly opposes the idea of granting blanket amnesty to the bandits.
