NANS meets Sheikh Gumi, seeks release of abducted students

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has met with controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, to demand the release of hundreds of abducted students across the country.

The President of the Association, Sunday Asefon, disclosed this in a statement on Monday titled, ‘Safe And Secure School; NANS Meets Sheik Gumi’.

Asefon said he led the leadership of NANS to meet Gumi in Kaduna on Sunday, noting that their discussions centred on actions and efforts to ensure the safety and security of Nigerian students on all campuses, and the release of innocent students who were still in the den of their abductors.

“We extracted commitment on continuous dialogue for the release of students in captivity and all-around efforts to ensure schools become safer so that our students can be free from the fear and trauma of kidnapping.

“We must leave no stone unturned until our schools are free again. We will continue to engage and dialogue with stakeholders to ensure school safety,” he said.

Read also: Sheikh Gumi reveals those behind kidnap of Kaduna Varsity students

Gumi has constantly advocated blanket amnesty for the bandits, saying that the bandits were fighting an ethnic war, and are ready to give up their arms if the government would dialogue with them and meet their demands.

This also led to his recent invitation for questioning by the Department of State Service, after which he was released.

Non-state actors had in the past abducted hundreds of students from Kagara, Niger State; Kankara in Katsina; Jangebe in Zamfara State; Chibok, in Borno State; and Dapchi in Yobe State, among other mass abductions.

Recently, armed bandits abducted over 200 school children from the Islamiyya school located at Tegina in the Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, leaving the tender school pupils who couldn’t walk.

Bandits had also abducted scores of students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka; as well as Greenfield University, both in Kaduna State. While some of the students were released after ransoms were paid, some students died in captivity.

By Victor Uzoho…

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