Controversial Kaduna-based Muslim cleric, Mr Ahmad Gumi, has offered to lead a negotiation between the federal government and the terrorists who abducted 287 schoolchildren and teachers of LEA Primary School in Kuriga Community in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State on March 7.
Speaking in an interview in Kaduna, the cleric advised President Bola Tinubu not to behave former President Muhammadu Buhari who did not allow him talk with the bandits so that captives would regain freedom.
He urged the government to use the same approach it used in securing the release of the Abuja-Kaduna-bound train passengers who were kidnapped on their way to Kaduna on March 28, 2022.
“The government’s stand of no negotiation with the bandits is an unfortunate position. My advice is that the government should dialogue with the bandits not only for these Kuriga schoolchildren’s abductions but in all cases.”
“Also, the government should use the same approach it used in releasing passengers that were abducted on Abuja-Kaduna train in 2022 to release the Kuriga schoolchildren and others.”
“I am ready to lead a holistic dialogue between the government and bandits. It is a religious duty for me to do so for peace.
“I hope the present government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will listen by dialoguing with the bandits because the past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari refused,” he said.
Meanwhile, the house of representatives asked the office of the national security adviser to coordinate the rescue of the abducted children and their teachers.
The House reached the resolution during yesterday’s plenary.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Mr Ahmed Munir.
In the motion, Munir narrated some of the ordeals the people of Kuriga have gone through in the past couple of weeks. He said Kaduna State is now the centre of violence perpetrated by criminal gangs.
“Two months back, this ugly menace occurred in the same community where a school principal, Malam Abu Sufyan, was killed days earlier and his wife and baby abducted. The wife and baby were later rescued in a successful joint security operation on 3rd February 2024,” Mr Munir said in his motion.
He added that violence is taking place despite the trillions of naira injected into the defence sector in the last couple of years.
“There has been no respite as the bulk of the actions by security personnel are reactionary rather than proactive,” he said. (Sic)
In the motion, the lawmaker also knocked the executive due to the lack of utilisation of the Safe Schools Initiative.
He said the government is yet to adequately utilise the initiative to protect schools 10 years after the launch of the programme.
“The fund is to be managed by the Federal Ministry of Finance, for the protection of students and teachers in areas prone to security threats,” Munir said, adding that “a decade has gone by and yet the utilisation and impact of this fund is at best questionable.”
Munir said most of the security agencies working on the prevention of terror attacks have been working in isolation without proper coordination.
“Kaduna State borders the North-western states of Zamfara, Katsina and Kano, borders the North-eastern State of Bauchi and the North-central States of Plateau, Nasarawa, Abuja and Niger and therefore an isolated plan for just Kaduna alone will be ineffective without taking cognisance of border communities and even neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Benin Republic and the wider Sahel,” he added.
Consequently, the house resolved to mandate office of the national security adviser to coordinate military operations that include boots on the ground, land and aerial sweep of locations that include but not limited to Kuyambana Forest in Zamfara, Kamuka Forest in Kaduna, Falgore Forest in Kano, Borgu and Zugurma Forests in Niger State.
Also, the lawmakers mandated the committees on national security, finance and legislative compliance to ensure compliance with the resolutions.
