Mr Gumi said past attempts “to broker peace” with the bandits failed because they were not compensated “with lands or cattle or money big enough to help halt hostilities.”

He added that sometimes the government would “just give them (bandits) a million or two million and get their weapons without even looking at how they survive.”

In a live stream on his Facebook page, the FG-appointed mediator for bandits said only religion can be used to pacify them to embrace peace.

It would be noted that Gumi has always been an advocate or mediator to Bandits, a situation that earned him the nickname "Minister of Bandits and kidnapping affairs".