Community leaders and council chairmen from Charanchi and Batagarawa local government areas in Katsina State signed a “peace agreement” with a group of armed men, otherwise called bandits.

The peace meeting, which took place on Saturday, November 8, 2025, was held in Wurma town of Kurfi Local Government Area in Katsina State.

According to a report gathered by Militainment News, the meeting was attended by the Chairman of Batagarawa Local Government, Hon. Yahaya Lawal Kawo, representatives from Charanci Local Government, traditional rulers, and delegates of the forest-based Fulani community.

At the meeting, one of the armed men addressed residents directly, saying the insurgency and kidnappings were shaped by wider political decisions rather than only by local actors.

“It was the government that wanted us to engage in banditry, but now it has called us and told us to stop. Therefore, by God’s grace, we have stopped from today,” said one of the bandits during the peace meeting between Batagarawa and Charanchi held on Saturday.

“If the government wants all this insecurity to end, they have the power to end it — but they don’t want it to end. For the past two months, we have been trying to initiate a peace talk, but we were unable to because they didn’t know where we were hiding.

“But when they finally decided to meet us, they were able to find and talk to us today. Peaceful coexistence and the end of insecurity depend on the Nigerian leaders. If they want us to keep striking and attacking, we will. But if they want peace, we will also make it happen.

“We don’t have the power or wisdom to bring peace to the country except through the Nigerian government, because everything is under their control. Despite people saying that we are attacking, it is the government that made us do it.

“If they don’t want us to attack or kidnap people, they can stop it. However, today, they were the ones who called us, and by God’s grace, we have stopped from today. You oppressed citizens — if you want to cry, don’t cry with us, the ‘terrorists,’ but cry with your government, for they are the ones who made us do what we have been doing,” the terrorist said.

This is coming after Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, defended the bandits terrorising northern Nigeria, saying they are on “revenge missions” rather than committing unprovoked attacks.

Gumi, who has often sparked public outrage for his sympathy toward terrorists, made the remarks in an interview on Trust TV on Friday.

He said the Fulani herdsmen and bandit groups “do not attack people without any cause.”

“The former governor of Bauchi State, (Isa) Yuguda, was able also to go with a government delegation into the bush and they met more than 5,000 bandits. They are all complaining — those who have lost their parents, those who have lost their brothers, those from hostility too,” Gumi said.

While acknowledging that the killings by bandits are “wrong and obnoxious,” he insisted the attackers act out of grievances and vengeance, not sheer brutality.

“Yes, I know they have killed, and it’s wrong to kill anybody innocent. This is absolutely an obnoxious thing to do. We don’t support that. But you see, if you know their psychology, they are on a revenge mission,” he explained.

Gumi, who has long supported amnesty and negotiations for bandits, also noted that Fulani herdsmen have lived peacefully with other ethnic groups for centuries and are reacting to injustices.

“Everybody knows the herdsmen, as well as the Fulani herdsmen. They don’t just attack people. We have been living with them for centuries. They don’t attack people without any cause,” he said.

He called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to focus on unifying and rehabilitating the armed groups instead of relying on military action.

Do you think peal deal with bandits is an effective way to end insecurity in Nigeria? Let’s know your views in the comment section.