Islamic cleric, Sheikh Gumi has said terrorists are recruiting from amongst herdsmen to carry out most of their recent attaks.
Gumi, in an interview with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting said this in an exclusive interview with The ICIR in Kaduna.
“The people that are doing this are called Ansaru, an offshoot of Boko Haram. They are not even Fulanis. But they are using herdsmen as foot soldiers and I heard they are paying them ₦50,000 every day,” Gumi said.
“During (former president Goodluck) Jonathan’s time, they didn’t have foot soldiers to carry out big operations. They just put bombs but now, they went to break a prison and released people and they went with their people. They have foot soldiers. Where are these foot soldiers coming from? It’s these bandits. Since, I have been warning Nigerians. These are not even Fulanis but they are only using them as foot soldiers.”
Gumi blamed the development on government’s inability to educate herdsmen and provide them with basic needs.
“I have been there meeting with bandits, trying to show them, educate them because they are not educated.
“Where do you want them to get their education and direction? They are all uneducated and the offense society has done is to leave such a large number of people without education, without budgetary concern for their education, their health, what they are doing, what they are thinking. Nobody is concerned about them. This is negligence.”
Gumi also warned against using the military to fight the bandits.
“The army is very strong. The army can destroy this town in 15 minutes. The air force can devastate Kaduna if given the go ahead, they have that power. The tactics, they have it. But if I give you a hammer to kill a fly in this room, you may end up destroying my furniture and your camera and you would not get the fly because a hammer is not meant for killing flies.
“But if I give you a rubber flexible swat which is cheaper than a hammer, you can easily get the flies. So, the answer is not the army, not the DSS. These people are isolated on an island or in a forest,” he said.
