Renowned Islamic cleric Sheikh Abubakar Ahmad Gumi has revealed by Fulani herdsmen and bandits took up weapons to commit crimes.
Speaking when he featured on Politics on Sunday, a programme on TVC, Gumi claimed herdsmen took up arms to defend themselves against brutality since the government neglected them.
The cleric blamed Nigerians for contributing to insecurity, adding that herdsmen are only interested in their cows.
On whether political leaders could be blamed for refusing to address the complaints of bandits about extrajudicial killings by law enforcement agents, as witnessed during the #EndSARS protests, Gumi blamed everyone.
He said: “I blame everybody, from the President to you, the man speaking. I blame everybody. It is a combination of small, small issues here and there that produced this monster. Everybody is at fault. I don’t want any Nigerian to exonerate himself.
“The media plays a part by polarising the nation. Even journalists helped in stirring this ethnic chauvinism we see all over the country. Government has neglected these people all along and they were using a hammer to kill a fly.
“To the southern Nigerians, #EndSARS is not a reason to understand why these herdsmen took up weapons. They were brutalised by the military, not only the police, for a lot of time, and not only in this regime. We should not be surprised.”
