Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will not succumb to blackmail by bandits who target innocent school students in the expectations of huge ransom payments.
The Nigerian leader’s comment comes more than 15-hours after the latest abduction of hundreds of students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in northwestern Zamfara State.
Mr Buhari in a statement on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant to the President Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu described the abduction as inhumane and totally unacceptable, sending out a strong warning to bandits and their sponsors.
“This administration will not succumb to blackmail by bandits who target innocent school students in the expectations of huge ransom payments,” the president was quoted by his aide.
According to the President, “no criminal group can be too strong 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,” he said, stressing that “our primary objective is to get the hostages safe, alive and unharmed.”
President Buhari 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.
By Abel Ejikeme