President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Wednesday, declared that no ransom will be paid for the rescue of the school children abducted from a primary school Kuriga in Kaduna State.
The President made the disclosure at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting which held at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, briefing State House Correspondents after the FEC meeting, said Tinubu also reiterated his directive to the defence to ensure that the children are rescued and brought back safely to their homes.
He also said the President made his stance against payment of ransom to kidnappers and that the current administration is determined to tackle kidnapping and other criminal activities in the country.
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“Mr President has also directed that no ransom will be paid by government to any of these criminal elements. I think it’s important that this be put out there,” the Minister said.
According to him, under the current government, kidnapping, especially mass abduction will not be tolerated.
This is coming a day after Kaduna-based Muslim cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, revealed his intention to dialogue with bandits who abducted about 287 schoolchildren from Kuriga Government Secondary and LEA Primary Schools in the Chikun Local Government Area of the State.
Gumi had said in a bid to facilitate the release of the abducted children, Tinubu give him the opportunity to negotiate.
According to the prominent Islamic scholar, Tinubu must not repeat the mistake made by former President Muhammadu Buhari, who refused to dialogue with bandits.
