Sheikh Ahmad Gumi: "I will not allow Trump to kill my relatives in the forest. The terrorists are our children. We must protect them,”

 Sheikh Ahmad Gumi: The Cleric at the Center of Nigeria’s Terror Debate. 

When Kaduna-based Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi reportedly declared,

“I will not allow Trump to kill my relatives in the forest. The terrorists are our children. We must protect them,” 

he reignited one of Nigeria’s most sensitive national conversations — how the country should deal with terrorists and bandits who have unleashed years of bloodshed across the North.

Who Is Sheikh Ahmad Gumi?

Sheikh Gumi is a prominent Islamic scholar, physician, and former military officer turned preacher based in Kaduna State. He is the son of the late Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi, a highly influential cleric and Islamic jurist in northern Nigeria.

Ahmad Gumi rose to prominence not only through religious sermons but through his outspoken interventions on issues of banditry, terrorism, and negotiation. Over the past few years, he has positioned himself as an unofficial mediator between the Nigerian government and armed groups operating in forests across Kaduna, Zamfara, and Niger states.

His Role in the Bandit Crisis

Gumi has often visited bandit enclaves in the forests, engaging directly with their leaders and urging the government to adopt an amnesty and dialogue approach similar to the Niger Delta model. He argues that many of the fighters are “aggrieved Fulani youths” driven into crime by poverty, neglect, and extrajudicial killings.

According to him, these groups are not foreign terrorists but Nigerians who need rehabilitation and inclusion, not airstrikes and massacres.

Nigerians Disagree

For many citizens, security analysts, and even fellow clerics, Sheikh Gumi’s actions appear to embolden criminals rather than reform them.
His repeated public defence of bandits, calls for their amnesty, and criticism of military operations have earned him widespread criticism.

Several commentators and security experts have labelled him a “terrorist sympathizer”, arguing that his approach undermines justice and rewards violence. Instead of demanding accountability for thousands of innocent lives lost, they believe Gumi’s rhetoric paints killers as victims and discourages deterrence.

Many Nigerians have also expressed concern over his son being an officer of the Nigerian Army. They claim he might act as a accomplice and give vital operations to the Criminals

Critics also argue that by offering a moral cover for armed groups, Gumi’s message indirectly fuels impunity, allowing bandits and terrorists to believe they can negotiate their way out of punishment.

The Benefits and Dangers of Gumi’s Approach

Potential Benefits:

• Opens lines of communication between the state and armed groups.

• Could help secure the release of kidnapped victims through dialogue.

• May reduce violence temporarily by promoting negotiation over confrontation.

Grave Dangers:

• Legitimizes terror groups, giving them social and religious sympathy.

• Undermines the rule of law by replacing justice with forgiveness without reform.

• Discourages military morale and public confidence in the justice system.

• Sends a dangerous signal that violence pays — that one can terrorize a nation and still be invited to the table.

A Divided Nation Over Gumi’s Legacy

While some northerners still see Sheikh Gumi as a peace envoy, others view him as part of the problem, a man whose compassion for bandits overshadows compassion for victims.
Families who have lost loved ones to kidnappings and massacres see his tone as insensitive, even offensive, to their pain.

His statement — “The terrorists are our children. We must protect them” captures both his humanitarian argument and the moral dilemma haunting Nigeria: should a state embrace dialogue with killers or stand firmly on justice?

Ikoments stands that Gumi’s words remind us of the fragile line between peace advocacy and complicity. His brand of empathy, while rooted in faith and humanism, risks normalizing terror when not balanced with justice.

In a nation still bleeding from abductions, mass killings, and displacement, any message that excuses those crimes, even under the banner of reconciliation, feels like salt on an open wound.

Nigeria needs peace, yes. But peace without justice will never last.