Bola Tinubu Asserts: Nigeria Refuses To Negotiate Ransom Payments With Kaduna Kidnappers.
Image source: President Bola Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election (Via Current Affairs)
Published by: Dimphotsentle Pule
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria has firmly stated that no ransom will be paid to secure the release of the more than 280 schoolchildren abducted March 7.
The abductors, who have made contact with the families, are requesting a ransom of 1 billion naira (R11,2m). They have warned that if their demand is not met, they will execute the captives. According to a local chief, the children, aged between seven and twelve, are enduring distressing conditions while held captive.
Jibrin Gwadabe disclosed that the kidnappers contacted him to relay their demand for the release of the children abducted. They made the call using the phone of the school principal, who was taken captive alongside the students from the small town of Kuriga in Kaduna state, located in the north-western region.
He spoke to the principal, who conveyed that some of the children were in a “critical condition” and were unable to stand up. “They are just lying down. So, we don’t know – maybe some of them are dead,” he remarked regarding the children, who he mentioned had walked for hundreds of kilometers to the kidnappers’ base with minimal food or water.
Mr. Gwadabe expressed that the families were extremely impoverished and incapable of paying the ransom. “Many of them cannot – even three-square meals is impossible in some of their houses,” he shared with the BBC’s Newsday program. President Tinubu issued instructions on Wednesday for security forces to secure the release of the children without any ransom demands, as informed by the country’s Information Minister Mohammed Idris.
“The government is not paying anybody any dime and the government is optimistic that these children and other people… will be brought back to their families in safety,” he said. Payment of ransom was made illegal in 2022 in Nigeria.
Kaduna state governor Uba Sani affirmed that they are exerting all efforts to guarantee the safe return of the abducted pupils and students. Frequently, family and friends gather funds, sometimes resorting to fundraising or selling their assets. Occasionally, politicians have intervened, particularly in high-profile incidents.
For years, the gunmen, commonly referred to as bandits, have preyed upon villagers, travelers on highways, and students in schools, aiming to obtain ransom payments in return for their release. Over the past three years, hundreds of students have been abducted.
This recent surge in kidnappings poses a significant challenge to Mr. Tinubu’s government, which had pledged to address insecurity following his assumption of power last year.
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