Controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi said bandits are ready to drop their arms if only the government can provide education and other basic amenities for Fulani herdsmen across the north and extension, Nigeria.
Gumi disclosed this while on an inspection tour of Sheikh Uthman Bin Fodio Centre, a school built by Sheikh Gumi Mosque Foundation Limited, at Kagarko Grazing Reserve near Kohoto Village. The school was funded by the cleric(Gumi).
According to him, if the centre which is designed to educate the herdsmen is replicated everywhere in the country, Nigerians will live in peace.
Gumi noted that instead of spending billions on military hardware to fight the bandits, Nigeria should spend such money on schools and teachers.
He also disclosed that he had spoken with the bandits and they are willing to drop their arms and embrace peace if their children could be provided with education and other social amenities.
The Islamic cleric added that he was motivated to embark on the project so as to tackle the root cause of the insecurity challenges occasioned by banditry, noting that if the bandits were educated “they will not be doing what they are doing.”
Gumi said, “What motivated me to start this project was to solve the insecurity problem we have from the root because every crime has its perpetrators and every perpetrator are drawn from a pool. So, we want to go there and dry the pool and we found out that education is the best cure.
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“If they are educated, they will not be doing what they are doing.
So, we say we must take education to the grassroots and we embarked on the project to also be an example for others e.g local, state and federal governments, rich individuals and even cooperative societies to come together and make sure that we are directed across the forest to know what we can do to cater for nomads.
It does not cost much. Very little and it will help to educate them and we will live peacefully with them.
“What we have here is centre containing six classrooms that can be used for primary, secondary schools and at various times you can teach all categories at all times.
“The place will be engaged for 24 hours because the herdsmen usually take their cattle out by 10am and bring them back by dawn or sunset. So, they have two hours before they take their cattle away and we have two to three hours because we like to put some solar light so that they can read 8, 9, 10 in the night so that the herder can go and come back.
“We have schools. We have a hospital and we are also showing them how to grind the foliage which they can use to feed their animals. Some of them don’t need to go out because those things are so cheap and farmers are throwing those things away. Soon farmers will start charging for it. If we can duplicate this everywhere, Nigerians will live in peace.”
