Skip to main content

How Fulani Leaders’ Meeting With Bandits To Release Abducted Niger State Pupils Ended In Deadlock



The armed men who kidnapped pupils from an Islamiyya school in Tegina, Niger State, and the Federal Government College, Birnin-Yauri, are holding on to their victims with varying demands.

Gunmen kidnapped not less than 136 school pupils from Salihu Tanko Islamiyya School in Tegina on May 30 while about 80 students were taken from FGC Yauri in Kebbi State on June 17.

Ali Kachalla, the bandit’s kingpin holding the Tegina pupils, despite receiving a N50million ransom has refused to release the children but rather made fresh demands which the distraught parents say they could not meet up with.

Kachalla, it was also gathered, has refused entreaties from Fulani leaders engaged as mediators to secure the release of the pupils who have been in the kidnappers’ den for almost 90 days.

A three-man delegation went to meet him but on learning of their arrival, he avoided going to his house for many days until the old men left in frustration,” a source involved in the process  revealed.

He also described Kachalla as “merciless and cantankerous.”

Meanwhile, the fate of over 70 FGC Yauri students is yet to be ascertained as the bandits’ arrowhead who kidnapped them, Dogo Gide, insists that he would only free the students in exchange for five of his men arrested by security agents.

said he was not looking for money. His only demand is that government should release five of his men as a conHedition for the release of the students,” a source said, describing the condition as stringent considering its implication.

A source familiar with the ongoing talks said a process has been initiated to perfect the release after stormy discussions among security agencies on the modalities.

“It is a tough decision agreeing to accede to demands of criminals, but arguments were also made about the fate of the innocent students who could be wasted by the madmen,” the source said.

The kidnap kingpin, who was saddened by the capture of his lieutenants, initially abducted three people, including a Chinese man from a quarry in Niger State, to press for the release of his men.

The company reached out and explained to him that they were not government workers, so they had to offer a ransom. But even after collecting ransom he released only two persons and withheld the Chinese man.

However, it appears that he decided to release the last one as he was becoming infirm from long incarceration, though he (Gide) had threatened to kill him if no more money was paid,” the source said.

The source said it was after this that he decided to raid the school in Yauri, believing it was the best way to press for his demand on the government.

Since the abduction of students from Government Science School Kankara, bandits have increasingly targeted schools in troubled communities, leading to the closure of schools in Kaduna, Zamfara and Katsina states.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

EndSARS: Protesters In New York Want SARS Operatives Sacked

 Hundreds of young anti-SARS protesters on Sunday stormed the Nigeria House in New York demanding transparency in the disbandment of the police unit back home. The protesters said operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad found wanting should be sacked and not redeployed. Among them was Stephen “Papi” Ojo, the artist, model, and choreographer who stole the show as the ‘blue-guy’ in BeyoncĂ©’s “Already” music video. The protest started shortly after the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, announced the dissolution of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad. Adamu also announced plans for a new arrangement to address anticipated policing gaps following the disbandment, and the constitution of an investigative team to probe the alleged cases of rights violations, among others. But the protesters, who bore placards with different inscriptions including, “We no want audio ban”, said they were not buying it. They argued that previous commitments announced by the force to change...

Open grazing ban in South irreversible, Akeredolu replies Malami

  The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has tackled the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Shehu Malami, for faulting the ban placed on open grazing in the Southern part of the country. The Southern Governors had at a meeting in Asaba last week banned open grazing and asked the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to address the nation over the increasing rate of insecurity in the country. However, Malami who appeared as a guest on Channels Television on Wednesday faulted the ban, arguing that the governor had no right to do that. Akeredolu, who is the Chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum, spoke in a statement he personally signed on Thursday, titled, ‘ Our decision is irreversible and will be enforced ’. He asked the AGF to challenge the governor’s position on open grazing in court, adding that Malami’s comments were “ unfortunate and wicked ”. Part of the statement read, “I have just read the press statement credited to the Attorney...

Biden Announces Purchase Of 200M Vaccine Doses

  President Joe Biden announced a series of measures on Tuesday aimed at ramping up coronavirus vaccine allocation and distribution, including the purchase of 200 million more vaccine doses and increased distribution to states by millions of doses next week. With those additional doses, Biden said there would be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans -- nearly the entire US population -- by the end of summer or early fall. He described efforts to combat Covid-19 as a "wartime undertaking." We now have a national strategy to beat Covid-19. It's comprehensive. It's based on science, not politics. It's based on truth, not denial, and it is detailed," he said. As part of the new efforts announced Tuesday, the US will buy 100 million more doses from Pfizer/BioNTech and 100 million more from Moderna -- the two-dose vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration. Pfizer and Moderna are working to step up p...