Prominent Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi, has urged President Bola Tinubu to negotiate with dozens of bandits killing and causing mayhem across the country.
Gumi, a former military officer, claimed that spending billions of naira on weapons to fight insurgency was archaic and a waste of taxpayers money.
The controversial religious teacher emphasized the need for the government to concentrate on devising non-kinetic strategies of dealing with insecurity.
He said banditry is a social problem which emanated from the age-long farmer-herder crisis across the North, adding that an honest dialogue with the perpetrators could aid in solving the menace.
Commenting on the military bombardment of Tudun Biri residents in Kaduna State, Gumi said it was high time the military stopped interfering in internal security challenges, adding that the country needed a stronger police force to address issues such as banditry.
“This is not the first time such is happening. The military should fight the military. Tank by tank. Jet by jet. Military should be out of fighting insecurity. We are not fighting Cameroon or Togo,” Gumi told TrustTV.
“And the jet fighters should not be used on citizens. I cannot imagine any American president, no matter how instructive, would use F16 to bombard Americans. Impossible. He would go down the next day.
“What we need are very good policies. Then stronger policing. That’s where our money should go. All those people should be involved in community policing.
“In every society you have very good people and they are the majority. Nigerians are very humble people; very resilient who can sustain a lot of hardship. So I don’t see why good governance and good policing should be a big deal.
“All the money we spend on buying all these Second World War aeroplanes and artillery and jets to fight insurgency is an archaic way of dealing with this issue. And billions of naira are spent on that.
“Negotiate with these people. Build for them schools and hospitals. Let them have future. Build for them markets. Even the people we call bandits, what they sometimes complain is that they no longer have cattle markets because whenever they establish market, it gets destroyed.
“So the military should be out of this picture completely. We are not fighting a foreign country. We should develop our internal security,” he added.
