Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has again weighed in on the financing of armed bandit groups in Nigeria’s Northwest and North-Central regions, saying kidnapping has become their primary means of funding due to sustained government pressure.
“Bandits are kidnapping because they need money to protect themselves from government pressure,” Gumi stated. He argued that military operations, blocked supply routes, and the criminalization of ransom payments have cut off other sources of income for the groups, forcing them to rely on abductions to purchase weapons, fuel, and food.
Gumi, who has been involved in past dialogue efforts with bandit leaders, maintains that the groups are not receiving funding from the Nigerian budget. “No kobo of the Nigerian budget is allocated to bandits or herdsmen,” he said in earlier remarks. According to him, the state’s crackdown has left the groups with limited options, leading to an increase in mass abductions targeting schools, highways, and rural communities since 2020.
The cleric’s position aligns with official government statements that deny any policy of negotiating or funding criminal gangs. The Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act of 2022 made ransom payments illegal, and security agencies have repeatedly said their strategy is to degrade the operational capacity of bandit groups through kinetic and non-kinetic measures.
Critics of Gumi’s approach argue that public comments framing kidnapping as a defensive response risk normalizing the crime. Security experts say the kidnapping economy persists due to weak prosecution, porous borders, and gaps in intelligence sharing between federal and state forces. They contend that cutting off ransom payments and improving local intelligence are more effective than dialogue alone.
Gumi has consistently advocated for a mix of military action and engagement, saying that purely kinetic responses without addressing grievances such as marginalization, lack of education, and farmer-herder disputes will not end the conflict. He maintains that many fighters are drawn into criminality after losing livelihoods and becoming targets of cattle rustling and community violence…See More
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