Kidnapped Kagara Staff And Students Yet To Be Released – Gov Bello

The Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello has debunked trending rumours that the abducted staff and students of Government Science College, Kagara have been released.

The Governor spoke on Friday shortly after meeting with the renowned Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi at the government house in Minna, the state capital.

He emphasized that everything that is been said about their release is nothing but rumours, adding that government can’t work with rumours.

He promised that when the abductees are released, the information will be made public but for now, negotiations and consultations to secure their release is ongoing.

Addressing journalists, Governor Bello said, “Regarding the event of the past few days where we have two serious cases of kidnappings –the NTSA (Niger State Transport Authority) bus that was kidnapped (with passengers). And the second event took place at the Secondary School in Kagara.

“As at this moment, we do not have any additional information to give apart from the one given earlier on, yesterday. But I want to assure you that we are doing everything we can, we are interfacing with the local communities, with federal authorities and our own state authorities to ensure that we recover the victims safely.

“Our utmost priority right now is to make sure we bring them back home safe and that is exactly what we are going to do. So, there hasn’t been any information I can give you at this moment but once we have anything for you, we will let you know.”

“Everything that is being said out there is rumour and in situations like this, we cannot work with rumour, it has to be confirmed. Yes, we’ve been receiving different rumours from different people within villages but we are still treating those as rumour until processed and confirmed.”

Meanwhile, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has stated that Nigerians do not need the permission of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu or any other governor to reside anywhere.

Speaking on Friday while appearing on Friday on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily’ programme, Mohammed herdsmen don’t need any governors permission to live in any forest in the South-west.

He said, “Land is in the hands of the state and federal governments in trust but Nigerians don’t need the permission of governors or the federal government to settle everywhere. You don’t need the permission of the governor of Bauchi or the governor of Ondo to be in the forests of Ondo if you choose to live in the forests because under Section 41 of the constitution, you are free to settle anywhere.”

Speaking on his backing of Fulani herdsmen carrying AK-47, the Bauchi State governor said “when we mention AK-47, it is a figure of speech, the issue is protection, self-help, you must protect yourself”.