Zamfara state governor, Bello Muhammad has disclosed how government negotiated the release of 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara.
According to the governor, in an exclusive interview with DAILY NIGERIAN, repentant bandits and leadership of Miyetti Allah facilitated the identification of the syndicate after which negotiations began.
“When we established contact with them, I persuaded them to release them unharmed. And so they did tonight. This is not the first time we facilitated the release of our people without payment of ransom.
“Ask anybody, we don’t pay bandits a dime. What we do is to extend olive branch to them because they also want to live in peace.
“As I speak to you, they are on their way to Tsafe, from where they will come to Gusau and sleep. They will begin their journey to Katsina tomorrow morning,” the governor said.
He further clarified that Boko Haram had no hand in the abduction.
“Nothing like Boko Haram in this. The bandits did it,” said the governor.
Muhammad stressed that dialogue is the solution to banditry in the North.
“If all the governors will sit to address this problem by adopting dialogue, banditry will reduce to barest minimum,” he added.
According to the governor, political interference as the factor in the flourishing business of banditry.
“I can tell you security agents are really trying. When you remove political interference from their operations, you can get the results,” he said.
Source : Daily Nigerian
