Again, El-Rufai rules out negotiation, amnesty for bandits, kidnappers in Kaduna

The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has reiterated his stance that the state would never surrender to bandits and kidnappers by offering ransom or negotiating with them in the face of incessant abductions in the state.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, El-Rufai said the government would not lose grounds to criminals by agreeing to negotiate with them.

He said: “Several states sought to negotiate their way out of the problems by talking to bandits, paying them money or offering them amnesty.

“This has not worked and has only encouraged the criminals to press ahead for a surrender of the public treasury to them. That is clearly not in the public interest.

“The recent kidnaps and killings of students from tertiary institutions in our state is regrettable and we sympathise with their families with whom we share the aim of the safe return of all the students.

“We mourn the dead students and we offer our condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.

READ ASLO: El-Rufai reiterates stance on elimination of bandits, rather than bargaining

“The ruthless and heartless resort of the kidnappers to murdering these young persons is part of their effort to further their blackmail and compel us to abandon our ‘no-ransom, no-negotiation’ policy.

“Are people bothering with the consequences of state surrender to hoodlums or is the continued politicization of security challenges not going to make all of us ultimately victims of the insurgents?

“The fact that criminals seek to hold us by the jugular does not mean we should surrender and create an incentive for more crime.

“In today’s Nigeria, it has become fashionable to treat the unlawful demands of bandits as worthy of consideration and to lampoon people who insist that outlaws should be crushed and not mollycoddled or availed of the resources they can use to unleash further outrages.”

The governor had earlier this year ruled out amnesty or any form of negotiation with the criminals terrorizing the state.

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