The leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, has warned President Bola Tinubu to ignore Islamic Cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi’s request to negotiate with the kidnappers of 285 students from Kaduna.
In a statement signed Thursday by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin, Primate Ayodele said Gumi should be arrested and prosecuted if found to have anything to do with the kidnappers.
According to him, this is a security matter and no civilian should be allowed to meddle with it, adding that any civilian negotiating with terrorists must be one of them.
The cleric said negotiating with the terrorists as Gumi is requesting would escalate kidnapping attacks and ransom payments, and hence prolong the menace.
Primate Ayodele insisted that Gumi should be arrested, interrogated and possibly prosecuted if it is discovered that he is involved in the kidnapping of the pupils since he seemed to know the terrorists.
The statement read: ‘’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.’’
The leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, has warned President Bola Tinubu to ignore Islamic Cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi’s request to negotiate with the kidnappers of 285 students from Kaduna.
In a statement signed Thursday by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin, Primate Ayodele said Gumi should be arrested and prosecuted if found to have anything to do with the kidnappers.
According to him, this is a security matter and no civilian should be allowed to meddle with it, adding that any civilian negotiating with terrorists must be one of them.
The cleric said negotiating with the terrorists as Gumi is requesting would escalate kidnapping attacks and ransom payments, and hence prolong the menace.
Ayodele insisted that Gumi should be arrested, interrogated and possibly prosecuted if it is discovered that he is involved in the kidnapping of the pupils since he seemed to know the terrorists.
The statement read: ‘’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.’’
