Islamic scholar and security analyst Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has renewed his call for the federal government to rethink its approach to tackling armed groups in Nigeria, urging authorities to prioritize negotiations over military spending
In a recent interview, Gumi criticized the government’s “kinetic” strategy, saying it has failed to bring lasting peace and only escalates violence.
He extended his proposal even to separatist groups, stating: “Even IPOB, who wants succession, if they lay down arms and negotiate, I will support them. We can’t keep buying guns while society burns.”
Gumi lamented that trillions of naira spent on military operations often do little to address the root causes of conflict. “If you give the military money, they will go and buy houses abroad. We need to break the cycle of using guns as a solution,” he said, highlighting the inefficiency of current spending.
The cleric argued that targeting Boko Haram leaders or conducting raids on bandits has not weakened these groups but instead made them more resilient and violent, worsening insecurity across the North-East, North-West, and South-East regions.
Gumi also called attention to the broader priorities of government spending, insisting that funds allocated to defense could instead improve infrastructure such as roads, electricity, and education. “Electricity is erratic and very expensive. Roads are terrible. Nothing is working here. Spending that money on defense is just wasting resources,” he said, stressing that investing in social infrastructure would have a more lasting impact on national security.
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