The Kaduna State Government has denied a report that claimed it hired a private negotiator to secure the release of students abducted from the LEA Primary School in Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area.
Bandits stormed the school in Kuriga on Thursday morning and abducted over 200 students and staff.
Punch newspaper on Saturday quoted a “highly placed source” within the Kaduna government who disclosed that the an influential negotiator was speaking to the abductors on behalf of the government.
But the state Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Lawal Shehu, on Saturday described the report as “outrightly mischievous and false.”
“The hiring of a private negotiator only exists in the fertile imagination of the Punch Newspaper reporter,” Shehu said.
“If the Punch Newspaper had made efforts to contact the Kaduna State Government, they would have gotten the correct information.”
He said the government has a policy on non-negotiation with terrorists, bandits, and other criminal elements.
Shehu urged the press to be cautious in the publication of stories on security not to jeopardise the efforts of government and security agencies in degrading criminal elements.
