Following the recent exponential rise in the rate of banditry and kidnapping in the country, Nigerians have been speaking against the development.

One of the vocal voices against the ugly trend is the Bishop of the Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Matthew Kukah, who feels that those who have close affinity or ties with the bandits have questions to answer.

He believes that the comments coming from such persons, as disturbing and suspicious as they are, equally exacerbate the situation, and that such persons should be thoroughly interrogated.

Kukah, who expressed his worries over the spate of kidnappings across schools in the country, raised questions about the Federal Government’s failure to investigate the individuals that claim to have close ties with bandits.

The Catholic cleric made his position known in an interview on Tuesday.

Berating the Federal Government for failing to take a decisive action to end the incessant abductions, which he noted, could have a psychological effect on the children, he said: “It is clear that the Federal Government at the highest level knows what is going on, at least the intelligence community has an idea.

“There are key Nigerians, who are saying openly that they know more than they think the rest of us know, and I think that it is the business of the Federal Government to find out those who claim to know where the bandits are, those who are collaborating with the bandits.”

Kukah’s call came barely 48 hours after 137 schoolchildren, who were kidnapped in Kuriga, Kaduna State, were released from captivity.

In the last one month, cases of kidnapping have assumed a dangerous and frightening dimension.

The month of March appears to have been the worst period for the country as the bandits have been riding roughshod over the country since the beginning of the month.

It started on March 3, with the kidnapping of 112 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from their camp in Gamboru Ngala area of Borno State.

On March 7, bandits struck again in Kaduna State, where they abducted schoolchildren from primary and secondary schools. This was coming four days after the Borno incident.

Again, on March 10, bandits reportedly kidnapped no fewer than 15 Tsangaya students at Gidan Bakuso area of Gada Local Government Area in Sokoto State.

However, in the midst of all these, a Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, has been consistent in his message that the use of force on the bandits would only aggravate the already bad situation.

He has repeatedly and emphatically advised the Federal Government to approach the bandits, find out what their grouse is, and possibly, adhere to their demands if the country wants to experience peace.

Gumi’s position has been interpreted in some quarters to mean that he knows where the bandits that have been terrorising the country are located and should be able to help the government flush them out once and for all.

Others are of the view that Gumi could allegedly be working in cahoots with the bandits.

Those on this side of the argument are of the view that Gumi should be arrested and interrogated if the country wants to get to the root of banditry and kidnapping in Nigeria.

Perhaps, that accounts for Bishop Kukah’s call that all the people that have links with the bandits, including Gumi, should be properly interrogated.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government said Gumi has been invited for questioning over his comments on the activities of bandits in the country.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Information and Orientation, Mohammed Idris, while addressing journalists at the State House, Abuja, on Monday.

He said: “The security agencies are up and doing. Sheikh Gumi or any other person is not above the law.

“If his suggestions are constructive enough for the security agencies to take, they will take, but if they think that he is also making some statements that appear to be reckless, he will also be reprimanded.

“There is nobody that is above the law in this regard. And I am aware that he has been a guest of the security agencies to answer questions. When you make remarks that border on our national security, it is incumbent on the security agencies to dig further.”

The controversial cleric had on several occasions faulted the Federal Government on the continued use of force or kinetic means to secure the release of victims of kidnapping, saying, “The government ought to go closer to the bandits and study them to provide them with better living conditions.”

However, Kukah’s call has elicited reactions from well meaning Nigerians, with many saying he was apt on his call.

Applauding Kukah for speaking out the minds of many Nigerians, the President of the Middle Belt Forum, MBF, Dr. Pogu Bitrus told DAILY POST that it was a popular voice because that is the right thing to be done by any civilised society.

“In any organised society, anybody associated with a criminal should be investigated. Investigation is to find out if it is true that there is such an association between an individual or individuals and the bandits, as well as the extent of such an association?

“In other words, it is to establish if such an individual is really an accomplice. So, it is necessary for the government to investigate these people because we have suffered enough in this country,” he said.

He blamed the government for allowing insecurity to fester in the country.

He said: “Due to the government’s inaction, these bandits and terrorists have become law unto themselves, and it is the state that has now become the victim instead of the criminals.

“They kidnap at will; we go and pay ransom to secure the release of our people, who had been kidnapped, and by doing so, we finance and keep them in action.

“In a normal society, they would have been fished out a long time ago one by one and eliminated or put to jail depending on the legal system that is in operation.

“But in Nigeria, they have their big brothers wherever they are, which may include these people, who are claiming that they have ties with them, and they ensure that they are protected.”

He disagreed with the views in some quarters that the bandits bear more sophisticated weapons than the country’s security agents.

He said: “That is why I don’t agree that these people are too powerful or that they have more sophisticated weapons than our military.

“It is a lie; it’s all propaganda by the same people promoting insurgency.

“So, these people should be apprehended and interrogated to find out their level of involvement and any other person, whether in the security forces or in the government; whether the person is a former president or whatever, who is suspected to have a hand in the insecurity that is plaguing the country, must be interrogated because we have suffered enough.

“Ordinary Nigerians are paying the price; people are living in fear. Some people cannot travel again because of fear.

“And due to fear, people can’t go to the farms anymore because the bandits will either kill them or abduct them and force their relatives to sell properties or borrow money to pay for ransom. So, criminality has to be addressed and fought head on; not all these rhetoric.

“We thank God that the current president must have shown the political will and that is why, as far as I am concerned, the military is now doing the job better than before.”

He called on the government to go all out in the fight against the criminal elements and their sponsors.

“The president should go further; there should be no sacred cow or superiority of anybody in the north.

“All these things started from the north; whether it is the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency from Borno or the herdsmen militia from the Northwest coming into the Middle Belt and going down South; they are all problems of the North. Nobody should be above the law; they should be brought to book and let us have peace,” he stated.

He challenged the president to prove his mettle by going after the criminal elements terrorising Nigerians anywhere they are.

He said: “If Tinubu has the balls to say he is the president, he should get these people to book. And when that is done, others will either fall in line as their boys in the bushes to lay down their arms and become normal citizens if they are Nigerians or leave Nigeria, else they will be dealt with.

“So, Kukah’s call is in order because that is the way forward and the way a sane country which is not a banana republic should react.”

In his contribution, a former lawmaker in the Katsina State House of Assembly, Hon Shehu Yusuf also expressed total support for Bishop Kukah’s position, saying, “I totally support Kukah’s view.

“What he said should be properly looked into because I cannot understand how an individual or some persons within a community would claim to have ties with bandits that are living in the bush and who have been kidnapping, terrorising and collecting ransom from the people, and the government is keeping quiet.

“The government should rise to the occasion, and bring the people to answer questions about their relationship with the bandits.

“And if possible, they should assist the government with the locations of the bandits, their modus operandi, and why they are doing what they are doing. The call is in order and Nigerians should put pressure on the government to listen to Bishop Kukah’s call,” he said in an interview with DAILY POST.

For the President of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, AYCF, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, the Catholic Bishop has not said anything outside what Nigerians expected.

“No Nigerian citizen today will tell you that they are happy with the situation, where criminals would be encouraged to hold the country to ransom as a sovereign nation; it is not done anywhere.

“Bishop Kukah has just re-echoed what many Nigerians have been saying.

“The government should go all out to find the sponsors of these criminals, their friends, and those who have dealings with them and punish them once and for all,” he told DAILY POST.