Nigeria President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has promised not to pay the ransome demanded by abductors of more than 280 school children and women in Kaduna and Borno respectively on March 7.
Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris revealed the decision of the government while addressing the state house correspondent after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) weekly meeting on Wednesday.
Idris said: “In council today, Mr. President reiterated his directives to the security agencies and the ministry of defence to ensure that our kids that have been abducted by these criminal gangs are brought back to their homes safely. This was also mentioned by Mr. President in council today.
“So the security agencies are working around the clock. These children and people who have been abducted by criminal elements will be brought back to safety very soon.
“The security agencies are working very hard in that direction and Mr. President has also directed that no ransome will be paid by the government to any of these criminal elements.”
United Nations High Commissioner Human Rights Volker Turk has expressed his shock at the incident and urged the government to intensify action in ensuring that the people kidnapped are freed.
Turk said: “I am appalled by the recurrent mass abductions of men, women and children in northern Nigeria. Children have been abducted from schools and women taken while searching for firewood. Such horrors must not become normalised.
“I acknowledge the Nigerian authorities’ announcement that they are taking action to safely locate the missing children and reunite them with their families. I urge them to also ensure prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into the abductions, and to bring those responsible to justice.”
“No-one should have to live under fear of abduction, as many people in parts of northern Nigeria undoubtedly are. The armed actors perpetrating these attacks must be identified and brought to account – in compliance with international human rights law – as a first step towards reining in the impunity that feeds these attacks and abductions.”
It could be recalled that some school children, popularly referred to as ‘Chibok girls’, were kidnapped in 2014 which generated a lot of fury, especially from international community, although some of the children escaped while some were rescued, however, some remained with their abductors.
