Parents of abducted Kaduna students dare El-Rufai, say they’ll negotiate with bandits
Parents of abducted students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation Kaduna have vowed to enter negotiation with bandits, despite Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s warning.
Mr El-Rufai while restating that there would not be any negotiations by his government with bandits in a statement on Sunday warned that any person who claims to do so in any capacity will be prosecuted.
“The Government will not negotiate with or pay ransoms to bandits. Any person who claims to do so in any capacity, if found, will be prosecuted accordingly,” the statement read.
However, Samuel Kambai, the Chairman of Afaka Parents Association, during a meeting at the College Premises on Monday said the parents will do anything possible including negotiating with bandits to ensure that their children are freed from captivity, Channels TV reported.
He accused the government of being less concerned with the issue.
“We are appealing to the government to look at it critically and help us out. Today is the 25th day that these children have been in the bush and the government by their statement; are showing less concern over the issue,” Mr Kambai said.
“We are going to look for a way to negotiate for the life of our children. We are not going to allow our children to continue being in the bush. We will do everything humanly possible to get them back even if we will be killed,” he added.
On his part, Friday Sani, a father of two of the abducted students frowned at the state government for issuing such a warning.
According to Mr Sani, the directive of the state government could hinder the release of the abducted students.
“We were confident that this Easter, we will celebrate it with our children but they are just relaxed. The promise they gave us when we met with them is not what we are seeing,” Mr Sani said.
In March, 39 students of the college in Afaka, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna state were abducted from their hostels by bandits dressed in military uniform.
The abduction came at a time when Governor El-rufai announced that he will not be negotiating with bandits. In 2016, the governor said he paid herdsmen to stop killing in Southern Kaduna.
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