The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has accused controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi of promoting banditry in Northern Nigeria.
CAN alleged that Gumi was responsible for the increasing banditry activities in the North.
Rev Divine Eche, the chairman of the Imo State chapter of CAN, made the remark while addressing journalists in Abuja.
Eche also called on the government to review Gumi’s activities in a bid to checkmate insecurity in the North.
“You can’t, in a sane nation, have the likes of Sheikh Gumi, a religious scholar, going about promoting banditry and you don’t think that this will continue.
“Yet, that is what we are seeing today. We are not seeing anything more than what we have planted.
“We allowed this thing (insecurity) to continue and it is now going to consume the nation if drastic measures are not put in place to take them (Almajiri) out of the streets.
“Give them a sense of belonging, put them in school, and help them realise their potential,” Eche said.
Gumi is known for having access to bandits unleashing terror in the Northern part of the country.
The Kaduna-based Islamic scholar had severally met with these bandits across their hideouts with the aim of negotiating with them to lay down their arms.
Gumi had asked the Federal Government to create a Ministry of Nomadic Affairs.
He explained that the ministry would cater for the challenges surrounding herders.
The cleric also urged the government to grant bandits amnesty just like it did to Niger Delta Militants.
