A well-known Islamic cleric in Nigeria, Ahmad Gumi, has warned that if the bandits are declared terrorists, foreign jihadists will invade the country.
Gumi, who is known to have access to bandits, has asked the federal government for a general amnesty in the past.
Commenting on recent calls for the bandits to be declared terrorists, Gumi said in a statement on his Facebook page on Sunday that there would be serious consequences if the government did so.
The cleric also said the terror label on bandits would attract unemployed young people.
According to his statement, the acts that the bandits are now committing in the northwest have gradually moved closer to terrorism over time because wherever innocent people are killed, it is absolute terrorism.
Still, innocence is relative these days. We agreed that if their children and wives are also killed, they are guilty by association or collateral damage, so the bandits can think the same thing too. It is fair for the vigilante groups to lynch the Fulani Shepherds or anyone who looks like them by profiling them, but it is wrong for the shepherds to rifle through villages in retaliation. They are led to believe that this is an existential war and that ethics are thrown to the wind in war.
Again, the only useful part that speaks against the bandits is that no one other than them is attracted to join them in the northwest because of their ethnic coloring and coloring. However, as soon as they are qualified as terrorists - Islamic elsewhere, direct foreign jihadist movements will take effect. And many young unemployed people who join forces may find it pleasant and appealing.
Shouting "Allahu Akbar" plus AK47 against an immoral "secular" society where impunity prevails attracts extremists and the oppressed - the majority of our youth. These murderous terrorist groups are already fighting for the souls of these bandits.
"This will give the crime a spiritual cover and remove the stigma of discrediting them with such crimes, now that they are fighting a 'jihad' as they claim. In such a situation, society as a whole - as it is." have the moral height to take revenge? This is the most likely consequence, and the price isn't worth it. Nothing prevents kinetic actions from unfolding without the controversy of semantics. "
NE is already and has been devastated by this madness for over 12 years. If we allow terror to creep into these raw, naive, undiscovered bandits, NW will be in ruins as soon as possible. IPOB is already destroying SE, and Igboho has created confusion in SW. For those looking to destroy the NW, this is a good recipe. Turn the bandits into religious fanatics. Tell me what's left of Nigeria then? "