Nigeria Government Threatens Gumi With Arrest For Suggesting Negotiations With Kidnappers

The Federal Government has threatened Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi with arrest after he suggested President Bola Tinubu should allow him to negotiate with kidnappers.

Gumi also warned Tinubu that he should not repeat the same mistake previous President Muhammadu Buhari made of not negotiating with bandits. The suggestion was given after terrorists kidnapped at least 287 people from Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area in Kaduna State earlier this month.

The minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, addressed the media on Monday after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House, and said, "What I can tell you is that the government will not stop at anything to get any kind of information that is required to solve our problems," Punch reported.

He added, "The security agencies are up and doing. Sheikh Gumi, or any other individual for that matter, is not above the law. If you have suggestions that are constructive enough for the security agencies to take, they will take."

Idris noted that if the federal government thinks that Gumi was making any "reckless" statement, then "he will also be reprimanded," emphasizing that there was nobody above the law in this regard.

The minister further shared that Gumi has been a "guest of the security agencies to answer questions," adding that "when you make remarks, especially remarks that border on national security, it is incumbent on the security agencies to dig further into that, and they are doing just that. No one is above the law in this direction."

He also disclosed that the security operatives managed to release 137 kidnapped people from Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna State without paying any ransom. Furthermore, the officials also managed to release 17 kidnapped Islamic school students in Sokoto over the weekend.

President Bola Tinubu said on March 13 that the federal government won't pay any ransom to release kidnapped people.

Kidnapping incidents are not new in Nigeria as previously gunmen have kidnapped students. Last year, gunmen entered three hostels at the Federal University Gusau in Zamfara State and abducted 30 students, 24 of whom were reportedly female.