It’s Better For Terrorists To Kidnap Children Than Kill Soldiers – Gumi

In an astonishing interview with the BBC on Tuesday, Islamic cleric Sheikh Gumi said terrorists should kidnap children rather than kill soldiers.

He described the kidnapping of children as a “lesser evil” compared to killing soldiers.

To end what he called an evil practice, he emphasized negotiating with bandits to prevent greater bloodshed.

Nigeria has become an epicenter of kidnapping, with reports saying no day goes by without a kidnapping incident, mostly for ransom.

Just a few weeks ago, 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.

Recently, former President Olusegun Obasanjo lamented that kidnapping had become a business, making it difficult to stamp out.

While kidnapping in the south appears sporadic, northern Nigeria witnesses daily kidnappings, with terrorists targeting school children and worshippers in states like Niger, Kwara, Kogi, Bauchi, Adamawa, Kaduna, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Borno, Katsina, Taraba, Gombe, Yobe, and Kano, all considered epicenters.

Gumi justified his assertion by saying that while the abduction of minors is “evil,” it remains less grievous than murder – particularly in situations where kidnapped children are eventually released unharmed.

“Saying that kidnapping children is a lesser evil than killing your soldiers, definitely it is lesser. Killing is worse, but they are all evil. It’s just a lesser evil. Not all evils are of the same magnitude,” he said.

He cited previous incidents, including the mass abduction in Kebbi State, arguing that the victims 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.”

“It (kidnapping) is an evil, and we pray that they escape,” Gumi responded when pressed on his message to their parents.

He 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, 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.”

He further 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.

He revealed that his last direct meetings with bandit groups were in 2021, saying he made marathon efforts to bring various factions together, but the federal government at the time “was not keen” on the initiative.

He said that 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.”