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Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, has accused the Nigerian government of turning bandits operating in North-west and North-central Nigeria into religious fighters like Boko Haram insurgents operating in the country’s North-east.
Sheikh Gumi said a recent video of a terrorist, Bello Turji, and his fellow terrorists (locally called bandits) celebrating “victory” over the Nigerian military and claiming they are fighting for God was an indication that the group has adopted the ideology of Boko Haram.
in a Facebook post, Gumi said the video uploaded by Mr Turji’s group showed the bandits had become indoctrinated like Boko Haram members rather than people fighting against ethnic marginalisation.
He said he had advised Nigerian authorities to be careful in fighting the bandits so as not to push them to become guerrilla fighters and terrorists.
He wrote: “Radicalisation of Bandits: I warned against the danger”.
“Initially Bandits were fighting an ethnic war that could easily be resolved. I warned if the kinetic approach is intensified, they will turn into ideologically motivated guerilla warfare. Nobody listened.
“The difference between the former and the latter is that ideological war is mostly intractable, BH (Boko Haram) as an example. They commit the same crime, but this time, they think they are serving God. The picture is gloomy,” the cleric said
“Bello Turji has seized two trucks. Nigerian Army Bello Turji is coming for you, Insha Allah, if you don’t allow peace to reign. We are telling you and your clerics that we are with Allah,” Mr Turji says in the video as he moves towards the stuck vehicles.
“The hundreds of mostly young bandits are dressed in combat regalia and are chanting “Allahu Akbar” and proclaiming “victory” over the army.
On Thursday, soldiers from the Nigerian Army 1 Brigade in Gusau, stationed at Zurmi, carried out an offensive against terrorists in a forest in the Kwashabawa area of the Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara.
The soldiers abandoned the vehicles and retreated from the scene because they could not move ahead in the dangerous areas with their plan to attack terrorists in a meeting
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