Hon. Sulaiman Abubakar Gumi is a federal lawmaker representing Gummi/Bukkuyum constituency at the House of Representatives. In an interview with newsmen, he insisted that to end Banditry, governors of north west must adopt the Zamfara model of negotiation.
Indeed, he applauded the Zamfara state governor, Bello Matawalle, saying since he held sway, Banditry has reduced drastically in the state.
In the view of Gumi, confrontation and force with the bandits may escalate the menace. SINL Reporter was there.
EXCERPTS:
QUE: Can you give an overview of the security situation in Zamfara state?
The situation in Zamfara right now is getting better because I know that sometimes back, I can’t drive to my constituency without heavy security.
Recently, we went on tour with Dr. Sheikh Gumi and we visited some of these troubled spot to discuss how we can strengthen peace effort of the State governor, Bello Matawalle Maradun.
My experience there tells me that these repentant bandits really want peace. They want to come back and integrate into the society and what we need to do is to encourage that.
Part of the problem they are saying is that bandits do come from neighbouring States to come and operate and go back and anytime they confront them, they say, they are not part of the treaty and that means, there is a need for a wholistic approach for a whole region. It’s not a one State approach and by extension the whole country.
If one State have a truce with bandits and they lay down their arms, these same bandits can go to another States and do what they want to do and at the same time, bandits from another State can come and perpetrate and go back, so there have to be some synergy between all the States so that there can come together and say we are going to take this approach or we are going to fight the bandits.
The issue is if you say no we are going to fight like the case of Kaduna and Niger State, you can’t fight them because they will run to where there is relative peace. But if you say you want adopt peace like that of Zamfara, then the State will talk of peace. In Zamfara peace is working, people are going back to their farms, people are going back to markets, children are going to schools and we have less IDPs; that means there is something good which was achieved within a first 100 days, something so dramatic.
Peace does not take too long, but war can last forever, look at Boko Haram, it has lasted for 15 to 20 years now.
QUE: How do you address the issue of alleged foreigners infiltration into the ranks of bandits?
The issue of foreigners and locals or what have you, one thing we need to understand is that a Fulani man is a Fulani man anywhere in the world. Normally, if a Fulani man feels threatened, they do invite others from all over. If they are fighting in Kaduna, they will invite from other States to come and help them and if the situation is overwhelming them, they will invite from outside to come and help them.
So, peace initiative will solve that, they don’t need to be here, they need to be with their family, but there is war against Fulanis, they will call their brothers to come and assist them and that’s why we are saying there is influx of foreigners and when they come, they are brutal because they don’t have the same sentiment.That means they end up more merciless, more brutal and that is what we are seeing.
In my visit to their camp I cannot say they are foreigners or locals because most of them are covered as they don’t want their faces to be seen, so it’s a subject of verification. But a Fulani man anywhere in world is the same and they are their brothers keeper. So, if there is trouble here, they will come and fight, therefore, it’s not surprising, if they turn out to be foreign Fulanis fighting us. And if we achieve peace, for what reasons will foreigners stay in Nigeria to fight? They will go back to their country because there is peace already.
QUE: A school of thought is of the view that northern governors are pampering criminality?
When you say criminality, you are generalising. Criminality is very subjective just like late Mandela said in one interview sometime back in US. He said Americans don’t want………., but one man’s criminal is another man’s friend. So you can’t generalise. Have you as journalist gone to this bandits and ask what are your grievances? Why are you into banditry? Why are you into kidnapping? Has any journalis done that? What is the reason that you are on the street kidnapping? What is the difference between now and before when this thing was not happening?
There has to be a reason. Nobody want to be in the bush. They cannot come to the market to sell their product neither are they allowing people to come to the bush to farm. That is what round table brings. You cannot just condemn a whole set of people; you cannot ostracised them; you cannot stereotype them and say all Fulanis are bad. That is not correct.
When you open windows for dialogue, people will come to table and you will understand their grievances, but when you paint them black, that is the end. The situation will never improve, like Zamfara, then you hear cases of kidnapping in hundreds, but now, it’s in few cases. It’s more of little kidnapping here and there and means, it works.
And we have gone to them to say, what is your problem? Believe me when we went there, I was afraid, just like you will be afraid of somebody who is holding a gun. But to our surprise, the only thing they say, they want is justice.
You are talking justice, what is justice, you are not talking schools, you are not talking about water, and all the good amenities in life. Is that what you want? The said no, without justice, you can’t enjoy all these things.
So, what is the problem? One, they said at the beginning, there was cow rustling. Some bad elements were rustling cows within themselves and some families were left without means of livelihood. Some families were left without cows, families of ten, fifteen children have nothing to do and you take away their livelihood. What next, they join gangs.
And there was a policy that Zamfara government put in place then which said, you cannot take your cattle anywhere for sales without licensing them and because of that, the bandits at that time resort to kidnapping the father of the family or a member of the family and asked you to go and sell your cows and bring the money because they cannot take it away.
Who are those people buying the cows, who are those behind it, they are not Fulanis. They are the people living in towns with you. They know these cattles are being rustled and they still buy them because there are cheap. Where do they take them, some take them to the East, some to the West. When a Nigerian is complacent, he is guilty of the situation. When the matter escalated, they would kidnap you or any member of your family, you will and sell houses or lands and bring the money.
Another thing we understood from our conversation with them is when a Fulani feel threatened, you kill one of them, they kill two, you kill two, they kill thirty so that they will defend themselves. It’s wrong.
