Afaka 39: Parents deny paying N800,000 for the students release

The parents of the 39 abducted Afaka students have dissociate themselves from remarks by a mother who said money was given to Sheikh Gumi for onward delivery to the abductors.

The parents, who apologized to the renowned Muslim scholar, said their attention was drawn to a screaming headline in today’s (May 5, 2021) publication of Roots TV to the effect that one of them, who spoke to the TV station in a live interview, claimed that they contributed and paid the sum of N800,000  to a Fulani man through Sheikh Gumi for the release of their children.

In a statement on Wednesday signed by Malam Abdullahi Usman, Chairman of the Afaka parents and Mrs. Catherine Y. Saleh, the Secretary, the parents stated that the claim has no basis.

They said though the woman in the said video has a child in captivity, her claim was untrue.

“The woman is not a member of the committee representing the affected parents and did not speak on behalf of the parents,” they said.

“To be sure, the Forum of the Abducted Parents has never gathered money and given to Gumi or to someone through the revered Islamic scholar at anytime. We therefore dissociate ourselves from the statement. The committee considers the statement as unfortunate and an unnecessary distraction from its commitment to secure the release of the children who have now spent 56 days in captivity.”

“For the record, the committee representing the Forum of Parents of the 39 Abducted Students visited the home of Sheikh Gumi to seek his intervention for the release of our children but he declined, on the grounds that as a law abiding citizen he would not want to go against the position of the state government which has forbidden anyone to negotiate with bandits.”

“We apologise to the esteemed Sheikh for any personal injury the statement might have caused him.”

“Again we call on all to join their voices in calling on government at state and federal levels to work extra hard to ensure the safe release of our children so that they may be reunited with their families.”

“While we await God’s intervention for the release of our children, we call on all people of goodwill to join us in prayers as we continue to seek God’s help for the release of our children,” they said.