Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Gumi says the 317 Zamfara schoolgirls were abducted by a splinter group of the Zamfara bandits.
The cleric insisted that the abductors of the schoolgirls were not the bandits he recently engaged with in Zamfara forests.
Suspected bandits had stormed Government Secondary School Jangebe in Talata Mafara Local Government Area around 1am Friday and abducted over 317 female students.
Zamfara Commissioner of Security and Home Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Dauran, confirmed the abduction to News Agency of Nigeria but could not confirm the number of the students abducted as at press time.
Gumi, in a telephone interview also refused to categorically say whether it not he would be going to the state to engage the splinter group.
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 Shinkafi local government area.
The renowned Islamic scholar and his delegation also met with bandits at Sububu forest and Pakai forests.
