The Sheikh Ahmad Gumi-Chief Olusegun Obasanjo Peace Initiative, on Sunday, organised a reception for the released students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation Afaka, Kaduna State, who were released by their abductors last week after spending 56 days in captivity.
Sheikh Gumi in his address at the reception said: “My appeal to government is to engage with the bandits so that the bandits can abandon their ways. They are already showing signs that they are ready. They have grievances, which I think if we come together we can cure this menace in a very short time.
“We want the cooperation of Federal, State and Local governments, the clergy and other well-meaning Nigerians should all come together to sit down and talk. You don’t negotiate with your friend, you negotiate with your enemy. The first thing you do is to try and break the ice and break the barrier between you and the person you are negotiating with and also build confidence by demonstrating that you are not going to cheat them or deceive them.”
The cleric revealed sincere negotiation and preaching to the kidnappers of the Kaduna college students helped to convince them to release their last 27 captives.
“If there is that level of communication, then negotiation comes in. These are people who for a long time have been involved in this kind of criminality. We have to use psychology on them because it is not possible overnight to just consent.
“But preaching to them, admonishing them and showing them the way out of their problems helped alot in getting them understand and release these children (Afaka students),” Gumi revealed.
At the reception, some of the parents and the released students commended Sheikh Gumi and former President Obasanjo for the roles they played towards their release.
Friday Sani, whose two daughters are among the students and another parent, Mrs Catherine Saleh, thanked God and all those who played a role or the other to see to the release of their children.
For their part, Stephen Yari and Fatima Ibrahim, who were among the released students, joined their parents to thank God and Sheikh Gumi and Chief Obasanjo for helping to see that they were released unharmed.
They reiterated thier earlier stand that they have resolved to forgive their abductors and urged government to do everything possible to bring all forms of banditry and other criminality to an end.
Highlights of the reception was a donation of branded T-shirts with the incription ‘We Are Strong. In God We Trust’ by the Gumi-Obasanjo initiative to the students.
An aide to former President Obasanjo, Mr Vitalis Ortese, represented the former president at the reception, which lasted for almost two hours at the Sultan Bello Mosque hall in Kaduna.
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