Ihechi Enyinnaya
Controversial Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi on Thursday said
has explained his role and that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo playeda role in the recent release of the 27 students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State.
The students were freed by their abductors on Wednesday after spending over seven weeks in captivity.
They were among 37 abducted from the school on March 11, but some were rescued earlier. The bandits demanded N500 million as ransom for their release but the state government had insisted it will not pay a dime to bandits or negotiate with them.
But on Thursday, while receiving the parents of the freed students on an appreciation visit, Mr Gumi explained the role of the former president in the pact.
“The role myself and former President Olusegun Obasanjo played in the release of the 27 Afaka students is the role of mediators because the fight is not between us and them (bandits) but between the bandits and the government,” Punch newspaper quoted him to have said.
“What we understand is that these people are trying to attack the government by attacking the government institutions and take innocent children.
“Having understood that we came to the conclusion that this is not a hopeless situation and that we can really go in and negotiate for the release of these children, which we did after so many ups and downs.
“But in the long run, a conclusion was reached and these children are out. So, we are happy that, all of them are out and none was killed.”
But Mr Gumi said talk was ongoing with the abductors of the 16 students.
“The talk with the Greenfield University students’ abductors is also going on. You know they threatened to kill all of them after a particular deadline but after talking to them, they are now lowering their bar.
“So, we are thankful they have stopped killing. And we are still negotiating with them. I hope this Afaka case will also encourage to know that there is hope in negotiation and release the children,” Punch newspaper reported.