The leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, warned President Tinubu not to allow Islamic Cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi to negotiate for the release of 285 students that were abducted in Kaduna.
In a statement signed Thursday by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin, Primate Ayodele stated that it is not ideal for a civilian to be negotiating with terrorists unless he is one of them.
He explained that allowing Gumi to negotiate will lead to more kidnapping attacks and ransom payment which will not end kidnapping anytime soon.
He suggested to the government to interrogate Sheikh Gumi and persecute him if possible to ascertain his involvement in the kidnap attack since he appears to know the terrorists.
‘’Let us allow the security agencies to get to the root of this issue, civilian interference will destroy our security outfit and turn it into something else. If a civilian negotiates, it means he is part of the kidnappers, and any civilian that wants to get involved in the negotiation should be arrested and prosecuted.
‘’Allowing Sheikh Gumi to negotiate for the release of 285 children abducted in Kaduna is not advisable, he should be interrogated and prosecuted except the government is afraid of him. If he knows something about the kidnap, he should provide the information for the military and security agencies and not going to negotiate.’’
He made it known that Nigerians have the responsibility to help security agencies secure the release of these children and bring an end to the menace in our society. He urged those that know the terrorists to expose them for the greater good of the nation.
‘’We need to rise up to save these children; it’s a bad signal to the government. We can’t go anywhere and be asking for mercenaries, it belittles our security agencies. It’s time to take it seriously because they are a new syndicate. This kidnap was a setup, Tinubu should take it seriously or else it will blackmail his government. If you allow negotiations, there will be a big crisis. People are behind kidnapping.’
‘’Security agencies are not to be blamed; if the people are not cooperating there’s nothing they can do. We need to cooperate with them. Allowing this menace to escalate will be tantamount to economic hardship, scarcity and hardship. If they blame security personnel, it will not work.
“These people are within our society and the people need to expose them because they know them. This is not the best time for our country; many things are happening and going wrong. Things will be getting hard if we don’t curb kidnapping by supporting our security agencies, it will collapse the economy. Ransom is not the way to end kidnapping,’’ he added.
