Kaduna State-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has brewed another controversy after he alleged that Fulani herdsmen and bandits should not be compared to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as the two groups have different aims in engaging in acts of terrorism.
The controversial Islamic scholar who has never hidden his alliance and support for bandits, while speaking in an interview with Trust TV on Sunday, said while IPOB members kill security operatives, bandits only kidnap to make money because the Nigerian government has failed to protect them.
Gumi, who has consistently courted public outrage over his sympathy for terrorists, claimed that while IPOB members kill innocent people and security operatives with impunity, the bandits are on my on “revenge missions” rather than waging unprovoked violence.
The Sheikh argued that the Fulani herdsmen and bandit groups “do not attack people without any cause.”
“The herdsmen are not like IPOB, they are kidnapping children to make money, let’s be fair with them.
“It’s unlike the others like IPOB. The government has been trying to dialogue with them; they still refuse. They are still behind creating a separate state. They are secessionists. Besides being terrorists, they are secessionists. Well, these people (bandits) are not secessionists. They want peace,” Gumi said.
“The former governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, was able also to go with a government delegation into the bush and they met more than 5000 bandits. They are all complaining — those who have lost their parents, those who have lost their brothers, those from hostility too.”
Though he admitted that some bandits kill their victims when their demands are not met, he maintained that the killings were motivated by grievances and vengeance, not sheer brutality.
“Yes, I know they have killed, and it’s wrong to kill anybody innocent. This is absolutely an obnoxious thing to do. We don’t support that. But you see, if you know their psychology, they are on a revenge mission,” he said.
“Everybody knows the herdsmen, as well as the Fulani herdsmen. They don’t just attack people. We have been living with them for centuries. They don’t attack people without any cause.
“What I think the government needs to do is to really bring them together in a unison and in a holistic form so that there is peace. They are ready for that, because if you call them for peace, they come,” he said.
“The herdsmen are not like IPOB, they are kidnapping children to make money, let’s be fair with them.”
– Sheik Gumi pic.twitter.com/5u3NU6xKWA— Dera II (@Neutral_OC) November 23, 2025
