Buhari Thanks Sheikh Gumi After Release Of Kaduna Forestry College Students?
President Muhammadu Buhari may have subtly shown appreciation to Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, for the supposed role he played in the release of about 27 students kidnapped from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State.
Reports of the students’ release had filtered in on Wednesday, nearly two months after they were abducted from their hostels.
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An excited President Buhari took to his Twitter page on Wednesday to welcome the students’ release and to also thank “all the actors” who played different roles leading to their freedom.
The appreciation came about 24 hours after Gumi, who has been at the forefront of negotiations with bandits for the release of abducted persons in parts of the country, accused the Buhari administration of not appreciating his efforts.
“We express our deep appreciation to all the actors who contributed one way or the other to this happy outcome, in particular the defence and security agencies, the officials of the Ministry of Environment and the government of Kaduna State. We thank Nigerians for their prayer,” presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, quoted Buhari to have said.
Gumi had told The Punch in an interview that his negotiations with bandits had been yielding positive results, but that the Federal Government was not recognising them.
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The cleric, a staunch Buhari critic, was said to have recently made efforts to meet the president and possibly help his administration address the country’s security challenges through his dialogues with bandits.
Spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, claimed in a tweet last month that Gumi spent several months trying to meet President Buhari on the issue of insecurity without any luck.
“Today Sheikh Dr Abubakar Gumi told Northern Peoples Summit in Kaduna how he spent months meeting bandits, and many more months on fruitless efforts to meet and advise President Buhari on how to tackle the scourge.He said it is much easier to meet bandits than meet the President.”
