Gumi: B/Haram kidnapped Greenfield students, not bandits

An Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has said members of the Boko Haram were responsible for the kidnap of the Greenfield University students in Kaduna and not bandits.

Twenty-two students and a member of staff of the institution were abducted on April 20 while five of them have been killed.

Gumi made the claim in an interview with AIT on Tuesday when asked if he said Boko Haram was behind the abduction.

He said, “Yes, really. When we tried to trace them and put some sense into them, the contact who is also a nomadic Fulani, they threatened him. They said if he insisted on them they were going to catch him and he will have to pay a ransom before he gets out.

“And the leader is from Jalingo. He is from Adamawa. He is not the local Fulani we have here.

“So this means that the northeastern element is coming into this area and we have to move fast. We don’t have that luxury of time.

“I have been trying to speak with the government but nobody is really trying to listen to me or speak with me on this issue.

“We are trying to pacify and remove this banditry and they are responding.”

Leader of the group, Sani Idris Jalingo, has vowed to kill the students if a ransom of N100m and 10 motorcycles ransom were not given for their release.

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El’Rufai, also insisted that his government would not negotiate with bandits.