Nigerian security operatives were present when popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Gumi met with notorious bandits.

This was revealed by a former assistant director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, on Monday, according to DailyTrust.

Amachree explained that the security agents who were ordered to rescue victims of Kagara abduction didn’t engage the bandits in a gun battle in order to avoid collateral damage.

Amachree, who stated this on Channels Television morning show: ‘Sunrise Daily’, noted that the bandits could easily use the captives as a human shield if the security forces had engaged them in a battle.

He also said the compound where the popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, met bandits in a forest in Niger State to discuss the release of the abducted students and teachers of Government Science College, Kangara, was very close to a military post.

He said, “When you see bandits like that if their number is large, you will decide whether you want to get reinforcement to move in there. Then secondly, sometimes they have hostages with them and the hostages then become human shields for them.

“So, if you go in there, there will be a lot of collateral damage. So, these are the considerations. I am not currently in the theatre of what is happening there. So, I don’t know what the commanders of that area are doing but I can tell you they are not just sitting down.”

According to him, the security officials were asked to drop their weapons at a nearby military outpost before they were allowed to gain entry into the compound where about 700 bandits were camped.

Responding to insinuations in various quarters about why Gumi was able to easily access bandits while security agents were finding it difficult to do so,

Amachree said, “It is not a matter of they don’t know. I think they know but you know, you just don’t jump into 700 fully armed people because the tactics have to be planned properly to handle things like that.”