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Banditry is big business, Nigerian security operatives involved —Sheik Gumi

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A cleric, Sheik Abubakar Gumi has alleged that a number of Nigerian security operatives are involved in acts of aiding banditry in the country, as the criminal act has become big business.

He spoke on Wednesday during an interview on Arise Television.

According to the cleric who has consistently called for negotiations between the government, and the bandits that have taken to the trade of kidnapping, some “bad elements” in the security system are cooperating with the bandits.

Gumi said many people are involved in the crime of banditry, as the act has become a business.

He maintained that the country’s security architecture was working with the bandits, explaining that some security operatives were caught in Zamfara and other parts of the country.

READ ALSO: Activist, Adeyanju, joins calls for arrest of Gumi

He queried, “How can these big weapons get across our borders into the forests without the cooperation of some bad elements in the security system? It’s not possible.”

He called for a rejig of the country’s security system, noting that to fight banditry, there was a need to overhaul Nigeria’s security structure.

Meanwhile, he said it was time for the government to “put a bridge” for the bandits to “crossover and sit down with the authorities” in dialogue, to enable the release of the captives in the den of the bandits.

He also stated that the issue of banditry in the country was a tribal war, in which the government was not supposed to take sides.

According to him, the so-called bandits are Fulani herdsmen who had been victimized by people of other tribes, so they took up arms to protect themselves.

By Victor Uzoho

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