- Says abduction of students inhumane, totally unacceptable
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday described the latest abduction of students involving hundreds of students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State, as inhumane and totally unacceptable
The president expressed his feelings via series of tweets by his nedia aide, Garba Shehu.
Shehu said Buhari is sending out a strong warning to bandits and their sponsors.
Bandits kidnapped over 300 schoolgirls from their school in Zamfara State. This is even as schoolboys abducted by bandits from a secondary school in Kagara, Niger State are yet to be found.
But reacting to the Zamfara incident on Friday, President Buhari said his administration will not succumb to blackmail by bandits who target innocent school students in the expectations of huge ransom payments.
According to the President, “No criminal group can be too strong not to be defeated by the government,” adding that, “the only thing standing between our security forces and the bandits are the rules of engagement.”
“We have the capacity to deploy massive force against the bandits in the villages where they operate, but our limitation is the fear of heavy casualties of innocent villagers and hostages who might be used as human shields by the bandits.”
Buhari, who stressed that “our primary objective is to get the hostages safe, alive and unharmed,” noted that “a hostage crisis is a complex situation that requires maximum patience in order to protect the victims from physical harm or even brutal death at the hands of their captors.”
He warned the bandits: “Let them not entertain any illusions that they are more powerful than the government. They shouldn’t mistake our restraint for the humanitarian goals of protecting innocent lives as a weakness or a sign of fear or irresolution.”
The president appealed to state governments “to review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles, warning that the policy might boomerang disastrously.”
He also advised states and local governments to be more proactive by improving security around schools and their surroundings.