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Gov Matawalle dismisses claim on payment of ransom on abducted girls
The Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, said on Tuesday no ransom was paid to secure the release of 26 girls kidnapped by bandits in Katsina State and taken to a bush in the state.
The governor had earlier claimed that the girls were released through dialogue with their abductors.
“For those who believe we are wrong to dialogue with the bandits, the securing of these minors who are all girls, unhurt, is indeed priceless,” Mattawalle had said in an earlier statement issued by his aide, Zailani Bappa.
But residents of Dan Aji community in Faskari local government area of Katsina State, where the kidnapped girls hailed from, refuted the governor’s claim.
Read also: Gov Matawalle reads riot act to sponsors of banditry in Zamfara
The residents said they paid N6.6 million ransom to secure the release of the girls.
In a swift reaction, the governor in a fresh statement issued by his media on Tuesday insisted that the state government did not pay a dime to secure the girls’ release.
The statement said: “The story that went viral of the governor in securing the lives of these young souls and handing them over successfully to Governor Bello Masari was however received with bitterness by enemies of peace and obviously, bitter persons who will wish hell loose than Matawalle’s name to soar high.
“These misguided persons have since instigated false information that the girls were not rescued by the peace process initiated by Governor Matawalle’s administration but by ransom paid by the families of the released girls.
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