Controversial Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has expressed his readiness to engage with the terrorists responsible for kidnapping 287 school children from Kuriga Government Secondary and LEA Primary Schools in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State.

In a press statement from his media team, Gumi stated that he is willing to facilitate negotiations between the federal government and the bandits to secure the release of all abducted Nigerian citizens.

Gumi proposed that the government should adopt a similar approach used to recover passengers kidnapped from the Abuja-Kaduna train on March 28, 2022.

He encouraged the administration of President Bola Tinubu to avoid repeating the error of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who refused to negotiate with bandits.

In his statement, Gumi said, “The government’s stand of no negotiation with the bandits is an unfortunate position.

“My advice is that the government should dialogue with the bandits, not only for these Kuriga school children abductions but all the cases.”

He further added, “I am ready to lead a holistic dialogue between the government and bandits. It is a religious duty for me to do so for peace.

“I hope the present government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will listen by dialoguing with the bandits because the past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari refused to do so.”

The school children were abducted last Thursday, and the government has yet to secure their release

Bandits responsible for the abduction of 16 students from a Qur’anic school in Sokoto State have demanded a ransom of N20 million.

The proprietor of the school, Liman Abubakar, also known as Tsangaya, revealed the ransom demand during an interview on Tuesday with Daily Trust.

“I received two calls from them this morning (Tuesday’s morning). In the first call, they asked me whether I don’t care about the plight of my students that was why I didn’t contact them. I told them I didn’t have their contact.

“They then asked me to wait for another call around 11am. Some minutes after 11am, they called again and directed me to meet our village head and tell him to raise N20 million for the children.

“I wanted to plead with them but they said they would not reduce anything from the money. I went and discussed the matter with the village head but we are yet to reach a conclusion,” he said.

The students were reportedly abducted at Gidan Bakuso in Gada Local Government Area of Sokoto State last Saturday while seeking refuge in their rooms during an attack on the community.

The Nigerian Senate has suspended Senator Abdul Ningi for 3 months following allegations of Budget Padding.

During an Interview on BBC Hausa last week, Ningi accused the Senate of Padding the 2024 appropriation bill to the tune of N3.6 Trillion.

Ningi represents PDP, Bauchi Central. Despite outrage and widespread condemnation from his colleagues in the Red Chamber, Ningi maintained his position on Monday that N3.7tn could not be accounted for in the 2024 budget.

During Plenary on Tuesday, Senator Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Ogun West) raised a motion that there is urgent need to address the false allegations by Ningi.

Adeola, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, read the transcript of Ningi’s Hausa BBC interview on the floor of the house after Senate President Godswill Akpabio called for a committee of the whole house.

Senator Jimoh Ibrahim then moved for the suspension of Ningi for 12 months.

The session became heated with Majority of the Senators clamoring that it should be reduced to 3 months.

More to come….

Currently, the Senate finds itself embroiled in a tumultuous session following Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe’s revelation that all ranking senators received the sum of N500 million.

This bombshell was dropped by Senator Jarigbe during Tuesday’s plenary session while discussing the motion on breach of privilege raised by Senator Olamilekan Adeola.

Senator Adeola invoked orders 9, 10, 41, and 51 to bring forth a motion of privilege and address the issue of national importance regarding Senator Abdul Ningi’s recent interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (Hausa Services).

In this interview, Senator Ningi alleged a disparity between the budget passed by the National Assembly and the one being implemented by the Presidency, stating, “For the first time in Nigerian history, today we are operating two different budgets.” He further claimed, “Apparently, we discovered ₦3tn was inserted into the budgets for projects without locations.”

Senator Jarigbe, seeking to provide clarity on the matter, highlighted that the missing N3.7 trillion, as alleged by Senator Abdul Ningi, had been accounted for under the Government Owned Enterprises and first line charge. He remarked, “I thought this issue should have ended when the chairman of Committee on Appropriation explained that the N3.7tn were under GOEs and the first line charge. That explains everything but if we want to express our grouse, I also have mine and we are all culpable. After all, all the ranking senators got N500m each. I am a ranking senator and I didn’t get.”

The revelation about the alleged disbursement of funds to ranking senators swiftly threw the Senate into disarray.

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers attacked the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) in Ituku Ozalla, Enugu State, in the early hours of Tuesday.

The attack comes after a previous incident earlier this year when a resident doctor was abducted from the hospital premises but later managed to escape from the kidnappers’ den.

According to reports, the attackers abducted a female deputy director of the hospital and a security personnel during the Tuesday morning raid.

The assailants reportedly abandoned an SUV belonging to the abducted woman, a nurse, which displayed signs of bullet perforations on the front passenger side, as seen in a viral video.

“This is so sad; we are not safe at all in this hospital; everywhere is porous,” a distressed staff member told Vanguard.

The police and hospital management have not yet officially confirmed the incident, and details about the circumstances surrounding the abduction remain unclear.