Federal Government Knows Every Terrorist By Name And Location – Sheikh Gumi

Kaduna-based Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has declared that the Federal Government knows the identity and exact location of every terrorist and bandit operating across Nigeria.

The cleric made the revelation during a fresh interview on DRTV while responding to persistent accusations that he maintains close contacts with terrorists and bandits and even advocates for them.

“The government knows every terrorist by name and location. I don’t go alone to negotiate — I go with the police, military, and other security agencies.

“I would go to the Emirs. In fact, when we went to one forest. I even went with women into the bush,” he said.

As previously reported by NaijaChoice News, Sheikh Gumi, a trained medical doctor and former captain in the Nigerian Army Medical Corps, has consistently pushed for dialogue as the most effective way to end the banditry crisis ravaging the North-West.

The son of the late renowned Islamic scholar Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi, he serves as Mufti and Qur’an interpreter at the Sultan Bello Central Mosque in Kaduna. His peace initiatives, which saw him enter bandit hideouts in Zamfara and Kaduna forests as far back as 2021, have always been controversial yet aimed at persuading the criminals to lay down arms.

Gumi has repeatedly maintained that he never acts alone during these engagements and that security agencies are fully involved. His latest comments on DRTV appear to reinforce that position while hitting back at critics who accuse him of sympathising with the same elements responsible for mass abductions, killings and displacement in the region.

The development comes as insecurity continues to dominate national discourse, with banditry and kidnapping still claiming lives and disrupting farming communities in several northern states despite repeated military operations.

Sheikh Gumi’s statement is already generating mixed reactions online, with many Nigerians questioning why the government has not acted decisively if it truly knows the terrorists’ names and locations.