Bandits Kidnapping Students Have Done Nothing Wrong – Gumi

Ahmad Gumi, Islamic cleric, has downplayed the severity of the atrocities committed by bandits wreaking havoc in the northern part of the country.

Gumi said  bandits are engaging in kidnapping to make money and they’ve not killed anyone, noting that it was unfair to compare the activities of the bandits to that of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

He said, unlike IPOB, who have killed security operatives, bandits have not killed security agents.

The cleric, who is believed to have access to bandits and sympathetic to them, said herdsmen’s crimes is nowhere as grave as those of IPOB.

Gumi called for “fairness” in the comparison between the two groups, saying one “is killing our gallant men” while the other is “kidnapping children to make money and not to kill them”.

“IPOB is attacking the police, the army, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other government institutions; killing our men in service,” he said during an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday.

”And the herdsmen are kidnapping children not to kill them but to get money; so how can you compare somebody who is killing our gallant men directly to somebody who is kidnapping children to make money and not to kill them. Look, we need some fairness in what we are doing.”

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Bandits have kidnapped over 800 school children across the north since December 2020.

The security challenge has led to the death several students, notably the killing of five Greenfield University students.

Since IPOB launched its militia arm called Eastern Security Network (ESN) a few months ago, attacks on security operatives and government infrastructure have surged. A number of security operatives have been killed by the militia.

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