Gumi: No school is safe until govt negotiates with bandits

Controversial Islamic cleric, Sheik Abubakar Gumi, has said there are about 100,000 armed bandits in the North-West alone.

Gumi said the bandits kidnapping school pupils were disappointed that he negotiated with them without the involvement of the Federal Government.

The cleric insisted that until the government engaged with the herdsmen, no school could be safe.

He stated these during an interview with The PUNCH on efforts to rescue the kidnapped pupils of Tegina Islamic School, Niger State.

The bandits had demanded N200m from the victims’ parents, which was later reduced to N150m. Gumi said despite efforts to get the pupils out, the bandits were adamant in their financial demand.

He said, “But we are trying to talk sense to them that these are just innocent schoolchildren. We don’t even have any idea of the condition of the children. We are just saying these are young children trying to study and they did nothing, so why are you trying to take dirty money from their families?

“This (kidnap of Islamic pupils) actually proves to the nation that the bandits are not really indoctrinated, they are just looking for money and I think that this is a good prognosis. They are not targeting a religion; they are not ideologues, which are difficult to deal with. We should not forget that they are not educated, formally or informally. They are just going about with cattle, and suddenly they found a lucrative way of finding money. Punch