Kagara Govt College: Sheikh Gumi opens negotiation with kidnappers

After meeting some of the bandits who kidnapped school and staff of Government Science College, Kagara, Niger, Sheikh Abubakar  Gumi assured the state Gov. Abubakar Bello of some positive response.

Photos of Gumi meeting with some bandits in a forest in Niger State surfaced online on Friday.

“The outcome is very positive because if you have warring factions and each faction says that I have complaints and grievances which are very simple, I think there is hope,” Gumi said while addressing journalists.

Bello is expected to address the press any moment from now.

Bandits stormed the school on Wednesday morning, killing a student as ther abducted many others.

Bello has ordered the immediate closure of all boarding schools in the areas.

The last time the bandits snatched school children was January, in Katsina, and many Nigerians complained of President Muhammadu Buhari not changing the service chiefs.

The service chiefs have since been retired.

The Islamic scholar Gumi has warned that the military option the government adopts may not solve the problem of banditry.

His take was based on his interaction with the Zamfara bandits that kidnapped Kankara students early in the year.