Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has stirred controversy once again, describing the abduction of schoolchildren as a “lesser evil” when compared to attacks on military personnel
He insists that Nigeria must negotiate with bandits to prevent more severe bloodshed.
In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, Gumi acknowledged that kidnapping minors is wrong but emphasized that it causes fewer irreversible consequences when victims are eventually released unharmed.
“Saying that kidnapping children is a lesser evil than killing your soldiers, definitely is lesser. Killing is worse than, but they are all evil. It’s just a lesser evil. Not all evils are of the same power.”
He referenced past abductions, such as incidents in Kebbi State, where kidnapped students were freed without fatalities.
“So it’s a lesser evil than, like, what happened in Kebbi. They abducted children, and they were released. They didn’t kill them.”
His comments follow the recent abduction of over 315 individuals, including 303 students and 12 teachers, in Niger State.
While 100 students were confirmed freed on December 7, around 50 others reportedly escaped shortly after their capture.
Asked what message he had for families of the victims, Gumi expressed sympathy but remained brief, “It’s an evil, and we pray that they escape.”
The cleric defended his long-standing advocacy for dialogue with bandits, arguing that engagement is a pragmatic approach necessary for peace and the preservation of human life.
“That word [‘we don’t negotiate’], I don’t know where they got it from. It’s not in the Bible. It’s not in the Quran.
“In fact, it’s not even in practice. Everybody’s negotiating with outlaws, non-state actors, everybody. So who got it, and where did they get that knowledge from? We negotiate for peace and our strategic interests. If negotiation will bring stoppage to bloodshed, we will do it,” he said.
Gumi clarified that his previous interventions with bandit groups were carried out openly and alongside officials.
“I go there with the authorities. I don’t go there alone. And I go there with the press.”
According to him, his last direct contact with bandit factions occurred in 2021. He claimed he once attempted to unite various groups at the negotiation table, but said the government at the time lacked enthusiasm for the initiative. Once bandits were formally designated as terrorists, he completely disengaged.
The former army captain stressed that military force alone cannot resolve Nigeria’s security challenges noting, “We need a robust army… but even the military is saying our role in this civil unrest, in this criminality, is 95% kinetic. The rest is the government, the politics, and the locals. The military cannot do everything.”
He further emphasized that the majority of armed groups operating in the forests are Fulani herders, distinct from urban Fulani, describing their struggle as rooted in survival tied to livestock.
“They are fighting an existential war… Their life revolves around cattle. In fact, they inherit them. They’ll tell you, ‘This cow I inherited from my grandfather.’ They are mostly Fulani herdsmen, not the Fulani town, because you have to differentiate between the two.”
Gumi’s stance once again highlights the national debate over whether dialogue or enforcement should take priority in tackling widespread banditry and insecurity in Nigeria’s northwest, a crisis that continues to displace families, disrupt education, and claim lives.
