Kaduna State-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, on Monday described kidnapping of students as a lesser evil compared to ransacking and killing in Nigerian communities by Boko Haram insurgents and bandits.
Gumi, who had visited the bandits’ hideouts in different forests in the North and advocated a blanket amnesty for the criminals, stated this during an interview on BBC Pidgin.
The cleric said he has been having fruitful discussions with the insurgents and bandits, adding that the criminals had taken in his admonitions to be careful with human lives.
Gumi said: “Kidnapping children from school is a lesser evil because in the end you can negotiate for their release. Moreover, bandits are very careful about human lives now.
“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.”
