Kaduna-based cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has dismissed the mass abduction of schoolchildren and others by bandits as a “lesser evil.”

In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, Mr Gumi, a self-appointed advocate for bandits, categorised abductions by bandits as a “lesser evil.”

“Not all evils are of the same power,” Mr Gumi said. “Saying that kidnapping children is a lesser evil than killing your soldiers definitely is lesser. Killing is worse than… but they are all evil. It’s just a lesser evil.”

The cleric cited recent bandit abductions of schoolchildren, saying it is a lesser evil because the abducted children were not killed.

“So it’s a lesser evil than, like, what happened in Kebbi. They abducted children, and they were released. They didn’t kill them,” Mr Gumi said.

Mr Gumi’s statement comes against the backdrop of a series of schoolchildren abductions by bandits.

In recent months, over 350 schoolchildren were abducted by bandits. While some of them have been released, some are still languishing in bandits’ den.