Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has reiterated his commitment to ensuring the safe return of kidnapped school students and other individuals abducted in Borno, Kaduna, and Sokoto states.
He firmly declared that no ransom payments would be made on behalf of any of the victims.
The affirmation came through the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, during a briefing with State House correspondents on Wednesday.
The statement was made after the Federal Executive Council meeting, chaired by President Tinubu, at the State House in Abuja.
The Minister also disclosed that the government is currently reviewing the security support offer made by the United States and other countries.
He added that the position of the government will soon be made known on the proposals.
Idris reiterated that President Tinubu had issued directives to security forces to prioritise the immediate and safe return of all kidnapped individuals, especially the school children.
The Minister underscored the President’s orders that the rescue operation of the abducted Nigerians be completed without any ransom payments being made.
“Some of these things are indeed happening , we have seen what has happened in Kaduna, Borno, and Sokoto States of course government is watching them very closely and not just watching but ensuring that security outfits are taking proactive steps to ensure that this is altered significantly.
“As I said the President has described this as an unacceptable situation, the government will not condone abductions or any kind of criminality in that direction,” he said.
He added that the federal government is taking proactive steps to mitigate and halt the spread of the kidnapping trend.
“It is important to underscore that, the government is not paying anybody any dime and the government is optimistic that all victims and the children will be brought back to safety.
The government is not taking any excuses,” the minister added.
Recall that bandits, who abducted 16 residents of the Gonin Gora area of Kaduna metropolis, demanded a ransom of N40 trillion for their release.
On Wednesday, February 28, bandits attacked the Gonin-Gora community, a suburb of Kaduna metropolis in the Chikun Local Government Area, kidnapping 16 residents.
Also, bandits in Sokoto State kidnapped 15 Qur’anic students, and recently established contact with the families, demanding a sum of N20 million as ransom before they would be released.
Also, about 61 locals were reportedly abducted by bandits in Buda community, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Monday.
(vitalnewsngr.com)
