Bandits’ kidnap of schoolchildren better than ransacking villages –Gumi

Popular Islamic Scholar, Ahmad Gumi on Monday described various kidnappings of children in the country as a lesser evil.

According to him, the students’ abduction is better than ransacking of towns and killing of its residents by the bandits.

Gumi spoke when he featured on BBC Pidgin.

The cleric also claimed that the bandits are being careful about the victims with them, saying that discussions with them are yielding positive results.

“Kidnapping children from school is a lesser evil because, in the end, you can negotiate and now bandits are very careful about human lives.

“Before, the mission of bandits was to go into a town, ransack it and kill people. By this, I can say our preaching is working and hopefully, we are coming to an end of banditry in Zamfara and other states.

“Bandits are more careful about lives now and just want to do sensational attacks which would bring attention to themselves.”

Gumi recently called on the Federal Government to grant amnesty to bandits, saying that it would help calm down the tensed insecurity situation in the North.