Chief Edwin Clark, South-South Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, has accused popular Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi of envy and mischief.
Clark was reacting to Gumi’s call that the federal government should grant amnesty to bandits as it did to Niger Delta militants.
Gumi had said the federal government should grant Amnesty to bandits rather than engage them in what he termed “operation fire-for-fire.”
The Islamic scholar said granting amnesty to bandits would help calm down the tensed situation.
However, the former Federal Commissioner for Information said equating Niger Delta militants’ amnesty to banditry in the North is a criminal act.
Addressing journalists yesterday in Abuja, the elder statesman, however, pointed out that persuading bandits to lay down their arms and stop attacking innocent Nigerians was the right step to take.
He said:” The attempt to equate the Niger Delta Amnesty with the northern bandits is not only criminal but unconscionable.
“Sheikh Abubakar Gumi and his cohorts, who are quite many among the Fulanis, seem to be ignorant and envious of the Amnesty granted by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, in August, 2009, and which was opened for embracing until 4th October 2009, by the then Niger Delta agitators.
“The case of the Niger Delta agitators, is quite different from the case of these murderous, bloodthirsty villains, who have taken up arms against the state, using different names, whether as Boko Haram, bandits, killer herdsmen, kidnappers, etc. What is it they are demanding?”
