Ahmad Gumi, popular Islamic cleric, has said the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), are more criminal than armed bandits.
Gumi, who had held several meetings with bandits in forests, said they only kidnap schoolchildren for ransom, while IPOB kill security agents and attack offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Kaduna-based cleric, who spoke on Arise TV on Wednesday, called for “fairness” in the comparison between the two groups, saying one “is killing our gallant men”, while the other is “kidnapping children to make money and not to kill them”.
“IPOB is attacking the police, the army, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other government institutions; killing our men in service,” he said.
”And the herdsmen are kidnapping children not to kill them but to get money; so how can you compare somebody who is killing our gallant men directly to somebody who is kidnapping children to make money and not to kill them. Look, we need some fairness in what we are doing.”
Bandits are said to have kidnapped more than 800 schoolchildren across the northern part of the country since December 2020.
The criminals killed five students of Greenfield University university after kidnapping about 23 of them in April.
IPOB, which launched its militia arm called Eastern Security Network (ESN) some months ago, has been accused of carrying out attacks on security operatives and government infrastructurein the South-east.
However, IPOB has continued to deny some of the allegations.
Discussion about this post