Ransom payment hasn’t stopped kidnapping, says El-Rufai

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has countered those circulating his statement on kidnapping before becoming governor.

The governor, seen in a 2014 video clip blaming President Goodluck Jonathan for not deploying all possible means to secure Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014, was accused of refusal to negotiate with kidnappers terrorising his state and secure Kaduna citizens.

Responding to the public accusations, the governor, through his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye, said the quantum of money paid as ransom following many negotiations with bandits had neither stopped kidnappings nor deterred the criminals from perpetrating evil.

He argued that several states that sought to negotiate their way out of the problems by paying money or offering amnesty had not got any good results. Instead, such a move only encouraged the criminals to press ahead for a surrender of the public treasury to them, he added.

“Amid the violence unleashed by criminal elements on the people of Kaduna, some commentators have responded by blaming the state government for asserting that the duty of the state was to uphold the law and not to reward hoodlums for violating the lives, property, and liberties of citizens”.

“Those pushing that kind of narrative are sharing a video clip of a 2014 interview in which El-Rufai called on Jonathan’s government to use all options, including negotiation, to rescue the Chibok girls,” he said.
HOWEVER, Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has raised the alarm over plans by Boko Haram and other terrorists to invade Kaduna town and take over the headquarters of the old Northern Region.

The claim by SOKAPU was fuelled by the increased activities of criminal elements in Kaduna and parts of the north recently.

SOKAPU spokesman, Luka Binniyat, stated yesterday: “The widening of the corridor of terror and the creation of more ungoverned spaces in Kaduna, particularly in Southern Kaduna, should give every normally-thinking resident sleepless nights.

“The governor of Niger State, Abubakar Bello, had on Monday raised the alarm that part of Niger had been captured by the Islamic extremist terror group, Boko Haram.”

According to the governor, the group even hosted its flag on a community called Kaure in Shiroro Local Council.

“This is consistent with the cry of SOKAPU that over 100 communities of Southern Kaduna have been captured and its inhabitants terrorised away after which the invaders (that surviving victims always identify as armed Fulani herdsmen) took over,” he added.