KADUNA-BASED Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has expressed his desire to engage in dialogue with the bandits responsible for the abduction of approximately 287 schoolchildren from Kuriga Government Secondary and LEA Primary Schools in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Gumi made this known with the aim of securing the release of the kidnapped schoolchildren, provided that President Bola Tinubu grants him the opportunity to negotiate.
Gumi emphasized that Tinubu should not repeat the error made by former President Muhammadu Buhari, who declined to engage in dialogue with bandits.
The cleric’s statement comes in the wake of bandits storming the Kuriga area in Kaduna State, where they shot at individuals before abducting around 280 students and teachers from the two schools.
This incident occurred shortly after insurgents kidnapped 200 internally displaced women in Borno State while they were gathering firewood in Ngala.
Furthermore, Gumi mentioned a previous incident where bandits abducted an unspecified number of individuals in Gonin-Gora, prompting residents to block the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway in protest.
Despite the state government’s refusal to negotiate with the bandits for the release of the schoolchildren and denying allegations of hiring a private negotiator, Gumi advocated for dialogue between the government and the bandits to address not only the Kuriga schoolchildren’s abduction but all similar cases.
Gumi expressed readiness to facilitate comprehensive discussions between the government and the bandits, citing it as his religious duty to pursue peace through dialogue.
He urged the current administration under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to heed his advice and engage in negotiations with the bandits, contrasting it with the approach taken by the previous government led by President Buhari, which avoided dialogue with bandits.
Gumi has previously acted as a negotiator for state governments in securing the release of abducted individuals by bandits, and he had received commendations for his efforts in seeking the freedom of kidnapped persons in the country.
