Kagara abduction: FG says there is nothing wrong in having dialogue with bandits
- Lai Mohammed has explained why holding talks with bandits are justified
- The minister of information and culture, reiterates FG's commitment to promoting peace
- Mohammed faults reports claiming that the government paid ransom to secure the release of students abducted by bandits in Kankara
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The Nigerian government has said that there is nothing wrong with dialoguing with bandits.
The Cable reported that the minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, made the statement on a radio programme monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday, February 21 in Lagos.
He stated that the government was not opposed to people having a dialogue with bandits so long as the intention was right and the ultimate objective was peace.
Source: Twitter
He said:
“After war, people still sit to dialogue. So if some people have taken it upon themselves to visit these people so that they can embrace peace, I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.
The minister however stated that the federal government will not pay any ransom to secure the release of abductees of students from Kagara, Niger state, The Guardian reported.
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He also denied that ransom was paid to secure the release of over 300 children abducted in Kankara, Katsina state.
Mohammed said federal government is making putting in concerted efforts to address all the security challenges in the country such as insurgency and banditry.
Meanwhile, the Zamfara state governor, Bello Matawalle, has claimed that the students abducted by bandits from the Government Science Secondary School, Kagara in Niger state are being held around Birnin Gwari in Kaduna state.
The governor made the claim in an interview on Channels TV on Sunday, February 21.
Matawalle stated that the success in Nigeria’s fight against criminality depends largely on the cooperation from stakeholders in the country.
In another news, the Niger state government says it has succeeded in securing the release of all the abducted passengers of the Niger State Transport Authority.
This was announced via the official Twitter page of the governor of Niger state, Abubakar Sani Bello, on Sunday, February 21.
The development was announced on the official Twitter page of the Chief Press Secretary to the Niger state governor.
Kess Ewubare is a senior political/current affairs correspondent at Legit.ng. He has both a BSc and a Master’s degree in mass communication. He has over 10 years of experience in working in several fields of mass communication including radio, TV, newspaper, and online. For Kess, journalism is more than a career, it is a beautiful way of life.
Source: Legit.ng
