Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed details of a private conversation with Sheikh Ahmad Gumi following the cleric’s visits to bandits’ forest camps. According to Obasanjo, Gumi said the bandits had fortified their enclaves to the point that “even if any security personnel claimed they had gone into the area, they were lying to you.”
He added that the cleric became emotional after encountering boys aged 13 to 15, “soaked in drugs and carrying gun.” Obasanjo described the children as “wrecked” and warned that millions of out-of-school and unemployed youths pose a growing national threat.