The renowned Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, on Sunday hosted students of the Federal College of Agriculture and Forestry, Kaduna, who had recently been liberated by gunmen.
On March 12, gunmen stormed a school on the runway in Kaduna and abducted 39 students.
Ten of them were released after reports emerged that their parents had paid a ransom of N17 million, TrackNews Online reported.
The remaining 29 students were released on May 5 after spending 54 days in custody.
Gumi and former president Olusegun Obasanjo are said to have helped facilitate their release.
Speaking during a meeting at the Sultan Bello Mosque Conference Hall, Gumi urged the students to forget their past.
Asked how he managed to release the students, Gumi said: “There is no compromise with a friend, only with the enemy.
“The first thing to do is to try to break the barrier between you and the person you are talking to and increase your confidence by showing that you will not hurt them or deceive them.
“If there is this level of communication, then the discussion comes in the third phase.
“These are people who have been committing such crimes for a long time, we have to apply psychology to them because it is not possible for them to change overnight.
“But preaching to them, reminding them and showing them the way out of their problems has helped a lot in making them understand and release these children.”
He called on governments at all levels to work together to address the security challenges facing the country.
“My appeal to the government is to deal with the gunmen to dispel their behavior,” he said.
“They are showing signs of improvement. They have their grievances, and I think if we come together we can solve this problem in a very short time. ”
