Dare Babalola
Sheikh Gumi, an Islamic cleric, has stirred debate by stating that kidnapping schoolchildren is a lesser evil than killing soldiers, arguing that Nigeria should negotiate with bandits to prevent more violence.
In a BBC interview shared on Tuesday, Sheikh Gumi said that while abducting minors is “evil,” it’s less severe than murder, especially when the children 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 said.
Gumi pointed to past incidents, including the mass abduction in Kebbi State, noting that the victims were ultimately released unharmed.
He said, “So it’s a lesser evil than, like, what happened in Kebbi. They abducted children, and they were released. They didn’t kill them.”
The remarks come as more than 315 people — including 303 students and 12 teachers — were abducted in Niger State.
On 7 December, the Federal Government announced the release of 100 students, while an earlier report confirmed the escape of 50 others just days after the kidnapping.
“It’s an evil, and we pray that they escape”, Gumi responded briefly when asked what he would say to their parents.
Gumi also defended his long-held stance that negotiating with bandits is unavoidable, describing engagement with bandits and other non-state actors as a practical strategy to secure peace and save lives, and noting that “everybody negotiates with bandits.”
“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.”
The cleric stressed that his past engagements with bandits were not carried out secretly or independently.
“I go there with the authorities. I don’t go there alone. And I go there with the press,” he said.
Gumi revealed his last direct meetings with bandit groups were in 2021, saying he worked intensively to unite various factions, but the federal government at the time “wasn’t keen” on the effort.
He said once the groups were officially designated as terrorists, he completely withdrew from any contact.
Turning to the wider security situation, the former army captain argued that Nigeria’s military cannot shoulder the burden alone.
“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.”
Gumi also maintained that most bandits are Fulani herdsmen, not urban Fulani, urging a clear distinction between the two. He described their struggle as rooted in survival and cattle rearing:
“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.”
