Popularl Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Gumi has described the kidnapping of school children by bandits as lesser evil.

Gumi while featuring on BBC Pidgin, said kidnapping school students was a lesser evil when compared to the ransacking of towns and killing of its residents.

“Kidnapping children from school is a lesser evil because in the end, you can negotiate and now bandits are very careful about human lives.

“Before, the mission of bandits was to go into a town, ransack it and kill people. By this, I can say our preaching is working and hopefully, we are coming to an end of banditry in Zamfara and other states.

“Bandits are more careful about lives now and just want to do sensational attacks which would bring attention to themselves” Gumi said.

He assured that negotiation with the bandits is yielding a positive result.