By our reporter| Governor Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State on Friday for the umpteenth time spoke against the payment of ransom to kidnappers and bandits, insisting he won’t pay any even if his son is kidnapped.
El-rufai who stated this during a radio interview, said his administration is not considering paying ransom to secure the release of the students abducted by bandits from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Kaduna, in March.
According to him, the government is “absolutely not paying ransom” but considering other means to ensure the students are returned to their parents.
“I mean it and I will say it again here. Even if my son is kidnapped, I will rather pray for him to make heaven instead, because I won’t pay any ransom,” he said.
The outspoken governor has consistently spoken against the negotiation and payment of ransome to bandits and kidnappers as such money fuels insecurity in the north and across the country.
On Thursday at a town hall meeting on national security organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture held in Kaduna, El-rufai said bandits must be wiped out entirely because they have lost the right to life.
According to him, “These bandits have lost their right to life under our constitution and must be wiped out in their entirety. There is no other way to approach the current insurgency situation today as far as governmental action is concerned.
“The bandits are at war with Nigeria and there is no other way to approach the current insurgency but for security forces to take the war to the bandits and recover forests where they are occupying.
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