Zamfara schoolgirls abduction: Buhari sends strong warning to bandits
President Buhari has reacted to the recent abduction of about 300 female students of GSS Jangebe in Zamfara state by suspected bandits.
The abduction happened early hours of Friday, February 26, few days after Kagara students were kidnapped in Niger state.
According to reports, about 300 female students of GSS Jangebe in Zamfara state were kidnapped by the gunmen.
Confirming the incidents, the state commissioner for information, Hon. Suleiman Tunau Anka said the gunmen stormed the school around early hours of Friday morning and abducted the students.
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However, he stated that the number of student abducted are yet to be identified by the state government.
Reacting to the kidnap in a recent statement released by Garba Shehu, President Buhari sent out a strong warning to the bandits.
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He explained that the only reason security agents haven’t attacked them was due to fear of heavy causality of civilians who might be used as human shield.
See statement below;
President Muhammadu Buhari has described the latest abduction of hundreds of students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State as inhumane and totally unacceptable, sending out a strong warning to bandits and their sponsors.
Reacting to the incident on Friday, President Buhari said that “this administration will not succumb to blackmail by bandits who target innocent school students in the expectations of huge ransom payments.”
According to the President, “no criminal group can be too strong to be defeated by the government,” adding that, “the only thing standing between our security forces and the bandits are the rules of engagement.”
“We have the capacity to deploy massive force against the bandits in the villages where they operate, but our limitation is the fear of heavy casualties of innocent villagers and hostages who might be used as human shields by the bandits,” he said,…
…stressing that “our primary objective is to get the hostages safe, alive and unharmed.”
President Buhari noted that “a hostage crisis is a complex situation that requires maximum patience in order to protect the victims from physical harm or even brutal death at the hands of their captors.”
He warned the bandits: “Let them not entertain any illusions that they are more powerful than the government. They shouldn’t mistake our restraint for the humanitarian goals of protecting innocent lives as a weakness or a sign of fear or irresolution.”
The President appealed to state governments “to review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles, warning that the policy might boomerang disastrously.”
He also advised states and local governments to be more proactive by improving security around schools and their surroundings.
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