“Niger Delta Warriors were tagged Militants to justify their actions so bandits should not be tagged criminals” – Sheik Gumi
Popular Islamic cleric, Sheik Gumi, has once again condemned the tagging of bandits as criminals.
Speaking during an interview with Tribune, Sheik Gumi compared Niger Delta warriors who were referred to as Militants and not criminals to bandits.
According to him, they were tagged militants in order to justify what they were doing and so stated that bandits should not be tagged as criminals. He said it is a derogatory word and will not help in the peace process.
Reacting to his recent comment where he said Bandits should not be referred to as criminals, Sheik Gumi said”I was trying to emphasise that bandits are criminals. They are committing criminality. Kidnap is criminality. Rape is criminality. But I said don’t refer to them as criminals. Why? If you recall, there was a peace treaty between the late President Umaru Musa and the Niger Delta warriors. Were they called criminals? No! They were called militants.
“To me, the word, militants given to them was rather to justify what they were doing. So, bandits shouldn’t be branded as criminals too. Don’t call the bandits terrorists or label them with derogatory adjectives because we want them to come to negotiating table. If you keep calling them criminals, you are not encouraging the peace process. If you as a journalist, you are putting oil in the fire.
“The nation is in flames and you are putting sentiments and fire to combust it. Is that not criminality? That’s criminality. So, a journalist can be criminal too if, for instance, there was a clash between a Muslim and a Christian in Kaduna and hundreds of people died and the journalist, instead of mellowing down his report, decided to add oil to the fire. Journalists, in times of conflict, should mellow down their reports so as not to incite the public. Journalists can trigger war.
“So, any journalist who does that, that is criminality. I’m not referring to all journalists but a particular case; that journalist that is putting oil in the fire. Am I not a friend of journalists? I have nothing to hide. And all these places I’m going, I moved with journalists. When I was going to Sokoto, I travelled with Arise TV, TVC and NTA, he said
How do you want to justify their criminality act, there’s no point in your saying.
What you said is not justifiable, comparing niger Delta militant with bandits, this is out of point.
I don’t understand the reason why sheik gumi is supporting those bandits. Kidnapping everyday, here and there, that is very bad.
Evil people everywhere.
there is a difference cuz those militant are fight the federal government and vandalizing federal government property and not the other wise and also they were not disturbing the whole nation unlike this bastards criminals…..
Me I don’t even know why this gumi guy has not been arrested self.