A Kaduna-based Muslim cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi says the Federal Government has to choose between the option of saving the lives of abducted Greenfield University students or paying the N100 million.
Gumi said this during an interview with BBC Pidgin on Friday.
Twenty-one students of the school were abducted last months. The bandits also killed five of them a week after their abduction, following Kaduna state government’s refusal to pay N100 million demanded by the abductors, leaving 17 stduents in their captivity.
“Life versus material; that is how you will look at it. It is the absolute responsibility of the government to protect lives. Now we have lives or N100 million at stake and these lives of 17 innocent young children,” Gumi said.
“I can’t imagine if my child is there. I can never keep quiet. I will go and knock on Aso Rock, if my child is there. They are my children too.
“What is N100 million? So, what I’m saying is, free these children then the field is open for you to whatever action you have. It is between bandits and N100 million. I do not want the struggle between bandits and lives.
“This is just simple logic. It does not require any rocket science. How can you play with lives? You can play with your money, but you can’t play with peoples’ lives. They just went there to study.”
