March 03 , 2021 | EASTERN PILOT Report By: Jacob Zenn Is al-Qaeda’s Nigerian Affiliate Ansaru Behind Ahmad Gumi’s Negotiations with Bandits?...
March 03 , 2021 | EASTERN PILOT
Report By: Jacob Zenn
Is al-Qaeda’s Nigerian Affiliate Ansaru Behind Ahmad Gumi’s Negotiations with Bandits? On February 5, Nigerian Islamic scholar Ahmad Gumi negotiated with bandit leaders in northwestern Nigeria to bring security to a region that has been ravaged by conflict between bandits, local communities, and the government (pulse.ng, February 5). Suspicions are growing that the bandits are linked to Boko Haram’s Abubakar Shekau-led faction, which is based in northeastern Nigeria. Shekau had claimed responsibility for bandits’ kidnapping of more than 300 schoolboys in Katsina, northwestern Nigeria, in December 2020. The schoolboys were released after several days in custody (Telegram, December 20, 2020). It is unclear why Shekau lambasted Ahmad Gumi in a subsequent January 6 audio, but it was possibly related to Gumi’s impending negotiations with northwestern Nigerian bandits. This audio was the first time that Shekau had denounced Gumi since 2012 (Telegram, January 6).
Besides Shekau’s faction, Ansaru, which al-Qaeda formally considers its Nigerian affiliate, operates in northwestern Nigeria and likely has a stronger foothold there than Shekau’s loyalists (HumAngle, February 14; Terrorism Monitor, July 28, 2020). In May 2011, not long after Ansaru carried out its first ever kidnapping in northwestern Nigeria of two British and Italian engineers, who were later killed in a rescue attempt, the al-Qaeda-affiliated requested Desert Herald newspaper editor Tukur Mamu to deliver a treatise to Gumi and other prominent Nigerian Salafist scholars. Mamu, who serves as Gumi’s representative when Gumi is away residing in Saudi Arabia, later became Ansaru’s main media contact when it wanted to release statements (Desert Herald, June 2, 20212). This was presumably because Mamu shared several aspects of Ansaru’s ideology, including identifying with Nigeria’s Fulani population, and Desert Herald and Ansaru were both based in Kaduna in north-central, Nigeria (Desert Herald, December 2, 2017).
It is, therefore, notable that Mamu accompanied Gumi when he met with “top commanders” of bandit groups (Desert Herald, January 20). Also notable was that Gumi claimed the bandits were seeking anti-aircraft missiles because Ansaru used such weapons against Nigeria’s air force in Kaduna in January 2020 (punchng.com, February 13; vanguardngr.com, February 5, 2020). Ansaru also would need anti-aircraft weapons because Nigeria’s air force has continued launching airstrikes on “Ansaru bandit” camps in the northwest, including Katsina (prnigeria.com, November 20, 2020). One bandit leader also reminded Gumi during negotiations that “This is how Boko Haram started, Nigeria underestimated us and the problem” (Dailypostng.com, February 4).
Ansaru and, to an extent, Shekau’s faction are certainly in northwestern Nigeria. The historical connection of Gumi, Tukur Mamu, and Ansaru should also raise new questions about whether the al-Qaeda affiliate is operating behind the scenes of the ongoing negotiations between Gumi and bandits in northwestern Nigeria, with Mamu also playing some sort of mediating role. The fact that one bandit leader with whom Gumi met, Dogi Gide, has reported Ansaru ties further suggests the group’s hand in the negotiations (Sahara Reporters, February 19; HumAngle, June 9, 2020). Remeber,in February 2010, this same Islamic cleric Gummi had travelled to Malaysia, he said; Two Nigerian students in Malaysia were arrested last month on suspicion of belonging to terrorist groups.
It is also on record that the late Abubakar Mahmud Gumm was a radical preacher who was radicalizing and instigating young Muslims to hate Christains. This led to the first religious riot that happened in 1987 in kaduna. He also campaigned for Nigeria joining the Organization Of Islamic Countries(OIC). He wanted to spread sharia strict legal application all over Nigeria thereby introducing the Fulani version of theocratic Islamism in Nigeria where the Fulanis are first class citizens lording it over all other indigenous people that are called Nigerians. After his death, his son Dr. Ahmad Gummi took over and Today he is a fanatic,a fundamentalist,a jihadist with the agenda to conquer. To complete the 1804 conquest of Nigeria which was started by Uthman Danfodio who established the present day Sokoto caliphate.
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