The Kaduna based Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has disclosed that he is not a negotiator for bandits. The cleric stated this when he received, Senator Shehu Sani, a former senator representing Kaduna central in the 8th Assembly.
The former senator visited sheikh Gumi to forge a way on how to negotiate the abduction of the 39 students of the College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna state and some eight members of Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG) members that were also abducted.
However, he said arrangements are underway to secure the release of the students who are in their third week in captivity at the den of bandits.
The cleric revealed that “As for the College students, we have done all we can do. In fact, I had a meeting with the parents of the kidnapped student’s sequel to their meeting with the Government.
Sheikh Gumi said I am not a negotiator for bandits, but in the interim, he showed the parents the magnitude of the problem but they went to see the government, saying in his previous meeting with the bandits, he ensures that government officials were always around before any talk in the forest before the order of ‘shoot at sight ‘was given, he said.
He revealed that as for the college student, they are making effort to secure their release through contact to ensure their safe return.
Last week the cleric while having interaction with the daily trust revealed that the “shoot at sight” order was hindering the progress of negotiating the release of the captives in the bandit's den.
President Buhari had some weeks back-ordered security operatives that anybody carrying an illegal assault rifle should be shot at sight.
The criminal bandits demanded N500million from the Kaduna state government before they will release the said students, the demand the state government vowed never to oblige to.