An Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, has urged the government not to take the threat by the kidnappers of students of Greenfield University, Kaduna lightly.
Gumi stated this in an interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday.
He said the Central Bank of Nigeria should pay the N100m ransom being demanded by the kidnappers of the students.
One of the bandits, Sani Jalingo, had on Monday in an interview with the Hausa service of the Voice of America demanded N100 million and 10 motorcycles for the students to be freed.
Jalingo threatened that the failure of the Kaduna State Government or families of the students to meet the demands by Tuesday (yesterday), would lead to the killing of the abductees.
Gumi, who spoke with The PUNCH on the telephone, lamented that his efforts, which had been yielding fruits, were not being appreciated by the government.
He said: “The money they are asking for is too much; if I give you that money, you cannot run away with it. Nobody can run.
“So, why not give them the money, they release the boys and then we pursue them and get our money back and do what is necessary; it is simple logic. So, bring the money from the central bank. How can they move that money?
“We should not be stupid. These people are getting infiltrated; Boko Haram is getting close and they don’t respect the clergy. I need support to get them inoculated against the infiltration of these ideologies, whether Boko Haram or Ansar-ul, whatever it is.
“We need to shield them because they are naïve. If there is too much pressure on them, and they see help from Boko Haram, who are richer and have more weapons, it is going to consume everybody”.
