AfriPulse
March 15, (THEWILL) — A recent statement by Kaduna – based Islamic scholar, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, claiming that the Federal Government knows the name and location of every terrorist operating in Nigeria is as disturbing as it is alarming. In an interview with a local television station, Gumi, who admitted to interacting with and advocating for terrorists operating in many parts of the country, went further to indict the security agencies and some traditional rulers. supreme leader amid global tension.
“The government knows every terrorist by name and by location. I don’t go alone to negotiate. I go with the police, military and other security agencies. I would go to the Emirs. In fact, when we went to one forest, I even went with women into the bush,” said the Muslim cleric, while insisting that negotiation with bandits and terrorists would greatly reduce the deadly violence that has increased in recent times, particularly across some states in the Northeast and Northwest geopolitical zones.
The Federal Government has ignored him, perhaps because it had had cause in the past to respond to him over his call for amnesty and dialogue with terrorists, which was described as “reckless and frivolous”, by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris Mohammed, who equally announced that the government invited him for questioning.
Even so, this is bad optics for the government. Only recently the government had to describe as false and baseless an AFP investigation report alleging that the Nigerian government paid a ransom of approximately ₦2 billion ($7 million) to Boko Haram terrorists to secure the release of 230 pupils and staff kidnapped from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State in November 2025.
Moreover, terror related violence has increased rather than abated in many parts of the country, particularly with the recent abduction of over 100 women and children in Ngoshe community in Gwoza Local Government of Borno State and fresh killings in Kaduna, Zamfara, Plateau, Benue and Adamawa states. The parents of a kidnapped National Youths Service Corps member, Rofiat Lawal, who paid N1.1 million ransom to secure his release are agonising on social media over the open display of the cash by his abductors.
Currently, a video of one Adegoke Jaiyesimi appealing for assistance to raise N100 million for his masked and unmasked abductors who pointed guns over his head, has gone viral. He said he was kidnapped on his way to Sokoto State. These are the everyday threats facing Nigerians with no seeming relief coming their way.
There is no doubt that the security agencies have been up and running in trying to keep Nigerians safe. Almost on a daily basis the Defence Headquarters show evidence of military offensives against terrorists and bandits.
Also, the new Inspector General of Police, Tunde Disu, has risen to the challenge posed by the worsening insecurity by constituting a new force management team comprising Deputy Inspector-Generals of Police, DIGS, tasked with deepening inter-agency collaboration, strengthening intelligence – driven policing and improving operational coordination across formations nationwide.
These are welcome developments, at least, in the reassurance that the government is everyday responding to the stressful demands on livelihood by overwhelming pressures of insecurity. But for Gumi, who is known to have mediated in the release of abductees by bandits and terrorists, to claim that “the government knows every terrorist by name and by location,” is a completely different dimension to the insecurity of the country.
In the face of the worsening insecurity in the country, actions are as important as words. Nigerians demand to know which is which. It is time to prove Gumi wrong. Those behind terrorism should be unveiled and prosecuted.
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Source: TheWillNigeria | Read the Full Story…
