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Updated: May 05, 2021

Greenfield University: Fisayo Soyombo Reproaches Sheikh Gumi For Stances On Banditry [VIDEO]

By Ridwan Yusuf
May 05, 2021
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Fisayo Soyombo, a renowned investigative journalist has reproached Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a prominent Islamic cleric for his apparent empathy for bandits in Nigeria.

Gumi had on Tuesday while featuring on Africa Independent Television (AIT) encouraged ransom to be promptly paid to kidnappers of students of Greenfield University, Kaduna.

In a VOA interview in Kaduna on Monday, leader of the kidnapping gang, who identified himself as Sani Idris Jalingo, explained that they killed five students of the school in captivity on April 23 over "failure of government".

The criminals are threatening to kill all the other students [over 10 of them] in captivity if N100million is not paid.

"What amount of money is too big for us to save the lives of those five students, what amount of money?

"Secondly, we can give them the money to get the boys out of danger then go after our money," Gumi had said.

Gumi - who had severally held meetings with bandits - had also in February advised the Nigerian government to use security budget to address bandits’ demands.

But Soyombo is not impressed with the cleric.

"When someone like Sheikh Gumi says we have to accomodate bandits. I ask myself: 'does he even know what he is saying?' Because bandits are worse than armed robbers," Soyombo said while speaking on Channels TV Hard Copy on April 30.

"An armed robber strikes whenever he wants to, takes your money, does whatever, and leaves. The trauma is short-lived - compared to abduction.

"While your loved one is being held, you're traumatised."

He continued: "In Nigeria, you have someone [seemingly referring to Gumi] running around, saying 'herdsmen are your brothers, show them love'.

"When that guy [Gumi] spoke on TV station, no NBC [National Broadcasting Commission] fined anyone. And then suddenly, someone from IPOB [Indigenous People of Biafra, Publicity Secretary who has the pseudonym, Emma Powerful] says the government is lying about how someone [Ikonso Commander] was killed, and then you fine the station.

"The government itself is sending the wrong signals to the public. And then, you infuriate people the more."

Watch the full video of Soyombo's interview here.

Soyombo has been through the trauma of trying to secure the release of a loved one held in the dark den of kidnappers

Read below his full narration on his known social media account on April 20, 2021:

Some of you remember six months ago for the military raid on #EndSARS protesters in Lekki. I do too. But the bigger personal significance for me: this was the night I drove to the den of kidnappers in Ekiti to pick up my abducted friend. A thread on insecurity in Nigeria.

On Wednesday September 30, I received a call from 'Sola Fagorusi's colleague Moyin. She had been summoned from Ibadan by the Police in Ekiti, and when she got there she found Sola’s car abandoned at a spot with bullet holes but no one inside. I knew straightaway my friend had been abducted. My first question to Moyin was, was there any splotch of blood on the vehicle? The moment she answered no, I was relieved; it meant my friend was still alive, so I got on the phone with his wife to assure her all was well. I picked two clothes and travelled to Ibadan to be with her; I knew the kidnappers would call her. Some two hours after my arrival, they did; they wanted N100m for my friend and his colleague. That was when we knew they had in fact picked Sola and his colleague — not just him. The following day, Rotimi Olawale whom I fondly call Sola’s ‘friend from heaven’ — they were born exactly on the same day, month and year — came to join us. Together, we started negotiating with sadistic kidnappers. It was a most traumatising experience.

From Ibadan, Rotimi, Moyin and I moved to Ekiti, where we were joined by a private detective from he South-South, whom we had hired, and his two staff. We tracked the location of the kidnappers; we knew exactly where they were holding our guys. We knew when they switched locations, too, and we showed the Police and the SARS team handling the case. Well, we were advised to continue with the negotiations.

Exactly one week into the abduction, we delivered a ransom to the kidnappers. But what did they do? They freed Sola’s colleague — let’s call him Friday — but they held on to the man who volunteered to deliver the ransom, a taxi-driver by the name ‘Kuye’. The kidnapers said Friday was the only one who should bring the new ransom for the freedom of Sola and Kuye, but as soon as Friday completed his post-freedom medical checks, he left Ekiti almost unannounced, abandoning his boss and Kuye with the kidnappers!

So we were left with two headaches: how to explain Kuye’s disappearance to his family, and how to convince someone else to deliver the second ransom, knowing the first volunteer was himself abducted. Kuye’s wife, amazing woman; when we broke the news to her, she didn’t sink her teeth into our skin. She had only kind words and prayers for us till the very day we retrieved her husband.

For whatever reason, the kidnappers became more difficult after receiving the first ransom. They would call us just to torment us. When they called, they were always cursing out. “By the special greist [sic] of God, your Sola e go die; she go die.” And to me who had impersonated Sola’s dad on the phone, they often said: “Yeye daddy; God go punish you thunder fire you!” Whenever they called, the three of us scampered to answer the phone. And when they didn’t, we wondered if they had harmed Sola and co. The emotional turmoil is indescribable.

Exactly, two weeks into the episode, we ourselves had become sort of desperate. All six of us got into a car and, on the advice of the private security team, I drove up to within four minutes of the forest where our friends were being held. We — three civilians and three detectives — drove up to the edge of the footpath leading to the kidnappers’ den. But guess what? No single security agent followed us. Not SARS, not the DSS, NSCDC, Police, Army or Amotekun. None! The harder part is that I personally spoke with the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, I spoke with the Commandant of Amotekun. Someone close to the President’s Chief of Staff mentioned the case to him; people spoke with Governor Kayode Fayemi on our behalf. Still, at no point did we get any tangible security support — not while they were in captivity, not after their release.

Well, on October 20, exactly 21 days after Sola was abducted, the kidnappers told us to bring a second ransom. The person who would deliver it first stepped into the bathroom, brought out a dark object, murmured some words, then hopped on a motorcycle (He eventually didn't do the direct delivery but was asked to drop it off with the ransom handler of another abductee.). The rest of us got into a car; I drove. I was still driving to Ijero-Ekiti that night when I got a call. I ignored it but the caller persisted, so I answered. The message: soldiers were shooting at #EndSARS protesters in Lekki. Within 20 minutes, a second caller told me the same. And in both cases, I heard gunshots in the background.

I’m finally telling just a fraction of this story, with @solafagro‘s permission, of course, because I wanted to share my firsthand experience of the powerlessness of our security agents, with the public. There was no powerful official in the security setup who didn’t hear of this case but we received no real-time security help. Three of us civilians, our private security and the two volunteers were the ones crisscrossing Ekiti to secure freedom for the captives. In a country that supposedly has a government. In any case, kidnappers are still operating without hindrance in Ekiti. On Thursday, a monarch, the Obadu of Ilemosho, was abducted, days after another, the Elewu of Ewu-Ekiti, escaped abduction with two bullet wounds. Those ones made it to the news but many actually do not. For instance, a week before Sola regained freedom, two staff of Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, were abducted by Sola’s captors while returning from a wedding. It never made it to the news but even the government couldn’t help them; a ransom had to be paid.

Meanwhile, everyone connected to Sola — his wife, aged parents, in-laws, colleagues, friends — were dealing with multi-level trauma. Many practically suspended their lives counting day after day awaiting his return. Many could not sleep or eat. It’s not the kind of pain I wish for my enemy. I personally was traumatised speaking with killer kidnappers (they killed one person in that time) almost every day for 21 days, sometimes up to four to five times a day. And what was our offence? That Sola was on the road in Ekiti at about 4:30pm! How else do you capture the shame of a nation?

Soyombo