Parents Of Abducted Kaduna Students Want Govt To Negotiate With Bandits

• Using force to rescue the students will be disastrous

• Any plan to use force should be after negotiation

Parents of abducted students of Federal College Of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna state have implored government to negotiate with bandits holding their children.

Sani Friday, a parent of two of the abducted students, says he and other parents want the government to deploy a non-combative and non kimei approach to secure the release of the students.

Friday, who is a representative of the parents, said this on Thursday in an interview with Channels Television.

About two weeks ago, gunmen attacked the school around 3 am, kidnapping at least 30 students.

Days after the incident, Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, said his job as governor was to enforce the law and prosecute people who commit offences, and not to negotiate with bandits.

Commenting on el-Rufai’s decision to use force on, the bandits, Friday said the parents are concerned that some of the students might become a collateral damage if the government try to use force to rescue them.

He said doing so may make the bandits eliminate the hostages, adding that the parents want the government to negotiate with the bandits.

Friday recalled that the government once said it would not hesitate to negotiate with bandits and pay them if that will put an end to the unrest and insecurity ravaging the state.

“It is the same state government which sometime ago told the entire Kaduna state that if it cost him paying bandits to stop killing the citizens of Kaduna state, he will pay them. But that statement was about a year or two ago,” he said.

“One of the fears we have is if the government feels they can use force to bring out these children, it will be a disastrous move because these bandits are well-equipped. They may decide to eliminate the children if they discover that the government is trying to use aggressive force on them because they are using our children as a shield for themselves.

“The best way we want government to go about this is to first of all, negotiate. Even if they want to put any other security measure on ground, it should be after this.

“Parents are crying, why is it that it’s in our time that we’re going through all this? If the state government feels they cannot negotiate, let the federal government do something for our children to be reunited to us.”

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