In an interview with the BBC published on Tuesday, Sheikh Gumi said his statement reflects a moral hierarchy rather than an endorsement of criminality. “Saying that kidnapping children is a lesser evil than killing your soldiers — definitely it is lesser. Killing is worse than kidnapping, but they are all evil. Not all evils are of the same power,” he explained.
Sheikh Gumi also defended his engagement with bandit groups, arguing that dialogue is sometimes necessary to halt bloodshed. He cited global practices where states publicly refuse but privately negotiate with non-state actors.
“That phrase, ‘we don’t negotiate with terror’, I don’t know where they got it from. It’s not in the Bible. It’s not in the Quran. In fact, it’s not even in practice. Everybody is negotiating with outlaws, non-state actors — everybody,” he said.
Addressing criticism that his interactions legitimise criminal groups, Sheikh Gumi said such views fail to consider the complexities of conflict mediation. He added that he always visits bandits accompanied by authorities and press representatives, noting that his most recent engagement was in 2021.
While calling for a stronger military presence in affected regions, Sheikh Gumi emphasised that the armed forces alone cannot resolve the crisis. “We need a robust army… but even the military is saying our role in this civil unrest, in this criminality, is 95 percent kinetic. The rest is the government, the politics, and the locals. The military cannot do everything,” he said.
He described the bandits primarily as Fulani herders engaged in what he termed an “existential war” tied to their livelihoods and inheritance of cattle.
“They are fighting an existential war. Their life revolves around cattle… They’ll tell you, ‘This cow I inherited from my grandfather’. They are mostly Fulani herdsmen, not the Fulani town — we have to differentiate between the two,” he added.
