A popular and controversial Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has revealed the kidnap of his senior brother by bandits, saying they demanded ransom to regain his freedom.

Gummi revealed this in an interview with some journalists in Gusau, saying his senior brother was kidnapped because he made a case for bandits and for visiting them in their forest conclaves.

He, however, solicited the release of his brother, saying he had also been a victim of the bandits on several occasions.

“Also in our mosque, we have paid a ransom. Even now, somebody is asking me to assist him to pay the ransom. Our family driver who happens to be our relative, his son, a private soldier, was killed by bandits. So now I can support such people?” Gumi said.

However, the cleric said his efforts with bandits have been sabotaged recently, stressing that he has quit meeting with bandits because it will be dangerous for him to continue to engage with them.

The Islamic scholar blamed those calling for his arrest as those behind the banditry in the northern zone of the country, stressing that it is a constitutional right for someone to express his views.

The cleric said his efforts are to prevent banditry in his own way stating that he has also been a victim of banditry.

They are clowns, they don’t know anything about the Nigerian society, they don’t know about the Nigerian constitution and liberty. It is a constitutional right for someone to express his views, so long you are not calling for violence or to harm anybody.

“These people calling for my arrest, I don’t see them different from the bandits. To say that I am supporting or sponsoring bandits is malicious. I am just trying to cure them in my own way. I am trying to prevent it my own way and I have seen how my little efforts have helped”