Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has said abductors of the Zamfara schoolgirls were not the bandits he recently met in Zamfara forests.
SaharaReporters had reported how bandits stormed Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Talata-Mafara Local Government Area of the state and abducted over 300 female students.
The gunmen were said to have arrived at the school around 1 am and loaded the girls in buses.
A resident in Kawaye village identified as Seidu Muhammadu who confirmed the development to SaharaReporters said his daughters, Mansura and Sakina, were among those abducted.
“I’m on my way to Jangebe now to see the situation myself. I was told they invaded the school around 1 am,” he said.
SaharaReporters learnt that the bandits arrived around 1 am with buses and motorcycles, which were used to take the pupils away.
A source said the bandits, some whom appeared like security agents, were in the school for a long time without being challenged by any security outfit.
Speaking with The Nation shortly after the incident, Gumi said the abduction was carried out by a splinter group of the Zamfara bandits.
The Islamic scholar, who appeared to have reached out to the bandit leaders he recently met, stated categorically: “They are not the ones that abducted the girls. It is a splinter group.”
When asked whether he would be going to Zamfara to meet the bandits for talks and plea for release of the school girls, Sheikh Gumi simply said, “maybe”.
The Islamic scholar has taken his peace message to bandits’ hideouts in Zamfara where about 500 were reported to have repented in the Shinkafi Local Government Area.
The renowned Islamic scholar and his delegation also met with bandits at Sububu forest and Pakai forests.
