Kagara Abduction: We Don’t Pay Ransom To Bandits – Niger Govt

Governor Abubakar Bello-led government on Thursday disclosed that it working effortlessly to secure the release of the students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara in Niger State kidnapped by bandits.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the state, Mohammed Sani Idris, stated this during the Post Exco briefing in Minna.

Idris while reacting to the allegation of delay in securing the release of the abductees due to the refusal to pay ransom said, “We are not foot-dragging on their issue. It is the state policy not to pay ransom to bandits because paying the ransom will empower them.”

The commissioner further stated that the strategies employed by the state government in securing the release of the abducted 53 NSTA bus passengers would also be deployed to get the release of the students and their teachers.

Idris, however, noted that Governor Bello administration is ready to negotiate with the bandits in order to secure their release.

He added that his principal is concerned about them and working hard to get them safely returned to their families.

In a related development, Bandits who threw Niger State in fear after abducting 27 students and 15 workers of Government Science College, Kagara, has said the state will not know peace.

A leader of the bandits while negotiating with a representative of the affected school vowed that the state would not know peace until it disbands vigilantes.

The abductor described the efforts of the security men as a waste of time, nothing that they are well informed of each of their moves.