Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has renewed his call for dialogue with armed groups, questioning why the approach adopted in resolving the Niger Delta militancy has not been extended to Boko Haram insurgents and bandits operating in northern Nigeria.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, Gumi recalled how former President Goodluck Jonathan and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo engaged Niger Delta militants in peace efforts that eventually led to programmes aimed at ending violence in the region.

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According to him, “The former President Jonathan visited Delta militants in the creeks, so also the former vice president Osinbajo. They all came up with a program to tame the militants.”

He then posed a question over the possibility of similar engagement with armed groups in the North, asking, “Who is going to visit BH and Bandits to tame them without fools castigating them?”

Gumi has consistently advocated dialogue as a means of addressing insecurity in the North-West and North-East.

Over the years, he has visited camps linked to armed groups in states such as Zamfara, maintaining that negotiations can achieve lasting peace more effectively than military action alone.

The cleric has repeatedly rejected allegations of supporting terrorism, insisting that his engagements are intended solely to promote peace, reduce bloodshed and encourage rehabilitation.

The Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, introduced in 2009 under the administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and later sustained by Jonathan, offered disarmament, vocational training, stipends and reintegration opportunities to former militants, helping to reduce attacks on oil facilities.

Recall that Jonathan had earlier met with ex-militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, during his time as vice president, describing the engagement as a key step toward the eventual amnesty initiative.

Osinbajo also visited Niger Delta communities in 2017 while serving as acting president, where he met with community leaders and stakeholders, arguing that residents of the region had legitimate grievances that required engagement rather than force alone.