Popular 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.
“But with good engagement, education and enticements like
jobs and other things, they will leave this work. But we need a partner and we
need the government to understand. Individuals like me alone cannot do it.
“All those we met (have stopped kidnapping), except for one
of them who is kidnapping again, and he told us his reason, that he was
neglected and he thought we had the mandate to negotiate. But when he realised
that we did not have the mandate from anybody, he said he was going back to his
business.
“So, the earlier we go into engaging them, the better. The
ones who have agreed to lay down arms, you can engineer them to take care of
the rest.”
Gumi said the Niger State Government had been making efforts
to get the children released, adding that the state had limited resources.
He insisted that the government could not protect schools
without first finding means to end banditry in the country.
“To secure schools, why not engage the bandits. Engage them;
they are not many. You can count them with your fingers. How can you guard
schools? It is not possible. In the whole North-West, they may not be more than
100,000 bandits. And that is just a drop in the ocean. That is talking about
those with weapons; because not all of them have weapons. Ninety per cent of
those who have weapons use them to protect themselves against cattle rustlers.
They are victims too. Aerial bombardments will only worsen the situation
because when you start killing their children, you remember they also have our
children,” he added.
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