Nigeria: Parents Did Not Pay Sheik Gumi For the Release of Their Children
The Claim
Parents of abducted students handed over N800,000 to Sheik Gumi to secure the release of their children.
News posted on
Emerging story
On the night of March 11th, thirty-nine students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Kaduna, were abducted. 10 were initially released. On Tuesday, May 4th, one of the parents of the abducted students granted an interview to Roots TV. She claimed the parents pooled their money and gave Sheik Gumi a sum of N800,000 to secure the release of their children. The interview was published on YouTube and garnered over 64,000 views. The platform's tweet has been shared more than 3,000 times.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar's investigation reveals that the mother's claim is false.
While she is indeed a parent of one of the abducted students, her claim that the parents gave Sheik Gumi the sum of N800,000 is false. According to a statement issued by the parents and signed by the Chairman of the Afaka parents, Mallam Abdullahi Usman, the woman is not a committee member and did not speak on its behalf. They maintained that although they had visited the Sheik to seek assistance in rescuing the students, he declined, citing the state government's directive against negotiating with abductors.
Following the abduction, the state government said it would not enter into negotiations with the bandits. Thus the situation dragged in for several weeks, with the abductors threatening to kill the students.
The remaining 29 students were finally freed this Wednesday after protests by the parents in Abuja and a payment of an undisclosed sum, as confirmed by Mallam Abdullahi Usman.
According to this report, since December 2020, more than 700 people have been abducted from schools in Nigeria's north-western region as the country continues to battle Boko Haram insurgents and bandits. The claim that the parents of the kidnapped students paid N800,000 to Sheik Gumi to help secure their release is not valid.
