Gumi’s Backing and Promoting  Banditry and Terrorism Attracts 20 Years Imprisonment Under Nigerian Law – Adeyanju .

Human Rights Lawyer and Activist Deji Adeyanju  has disclosed  that Gumi’s Backing and Promoting  Banditry and Terrorism Attracts 20 Years Imprisonment Under Nigerian Law.

Adeyanju said, Under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, the law does not only punish those who physically carry out terrorist attacks; it also criminalises acts capable of encouraging, justifying, promoting, or lending support to terrorism and terrorist groups.

The Act broadly defines support to include incitement, ideological encouragement, public advocacy, dissemination of materials capable of advancing violent causes, and even moral or verbal backing for persons engaged in acts of terror. Specifically, Section 13of the Act criminalises soliciting for, rendering support to, or associating with terrorist groups, with punishment ranging up to imprisonment for a term not less than 20 years.

This is why many Nigerians continue to question the seeming double standard in the treatment of Sheikh Ahmad Gumi and Nnamdi Kanu.

The Federal Government has consistently argued that Kanu’s broadcasts and public comments amounted to incitement and support for unlawful violence, forming part of the basis for his prosecution under anti-terrorism laws.

It is therefore not out of place to argue that Sheikh Gumi’s repeated public defence of armed bandits, his sympathetic rhetoric towards violent groups, and comments perceived as excusing or rationalising their atrocities should equally attract serious legal scrutiny under the Act.

He said, in a country like Nigeria, where bandits and terrorists have massacred innocent citizens, displaced communities, and destabilised entire regions, the law must be applied equally, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or political alliance.