Obasanjo: Gumi Wept After Seeing Drug-Impaired Teen Bandits In Forest Hideouts

By AMINA USMAN ABDULRAHMAN

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo has shared insights from a private meeting he held with Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, following the cleric’s visits to bandit hideouts across Nigeria’s forests. Obasanjo said the discussion offered troubling revelations about the scale of insecurity and the level of fortification within the criminal camps.

According to the former president, Gumi told him that the bandits had built such strong defensive positions that claims of security forces penetrating those enclaves were untrue. He said the cleric, who has become known for engaging directly with armed groups, appeared deeply shaken while recounting what he witnessed during the visits.

Obasanjo said Gumi admitted he broke down in tears after encountering teenagers—some as young as 13—armed with rifles and heavily under the influence of drugs. The cleric reportedly described the boys as completely lost to addiction and violence.

Obasanjo expressed alarm over the situation, linking it to the wider crisis of out-of-school children and youth unemployment in the country. He lamented that millions of children who should be in classrooms are instead vulnerable to criminal recruitment, warning that neglecting such a large population inevitably fuels instability.

“They are wrecked and that worried us,” Obasanjo said, stressing that the combination of poverty, idleness and exposure to crime poses a grave threat to national security.