Self-appointed negotiator between bandits and willing State governments and Islamic Scholar, Ahmad Gumi, stirred anger, again, on Monday when he declared that the abduction of school students by bandits is a lesser evil than storming communities and taking lives.
His comments, though agreeable to some sparked outrage because it tended to endorse the abduction of over 300 female students of a girls secondary in Zamfara State.
In social media comments, many fault the timing of his comments.
On a BBC Pidgin interview, the cleric said, “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.”