The governor of Katsina State, Mr. Aminu Masari has confirmed that the abductors of 333 students from their hostel at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in the state had contacted his government.
The senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, quoted Masari as saying after a meeting he had the president, in Daura that aside establishing contact, discussions with the kidnappers centred on the safe return of the pupils to their various homes.
In a statement entitled ‘Gov Masari briefs President Buhari on kidnapped school children, assures of steady progress in rescue efforts,’ the governor was also quoted as saying: “We are making progress and the outlook is positive.”
The governor was also quoted as saying that security agencies had located the position of the children.
The governor told journalists after the meeting that the president was fully committed to rescuing the schoolchildren, adding that he visited Buhari and gave him more details on the rescue efforts.
It would be recalled that that bandits had on Friday, December 11 attacked the school in Kankara and abducted the students.
The attack occurred on the day the President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in Katsina, his home state, on a private visit and a few days after he made a U-turn on his promise to honour the House of Representatives’ invitation to address the lawmakers on the rising insecurity in the country.
Meanwhile, the Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka,
Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has slammed the president for the growing insecurity in the country.
In a statement entitled ‘INFRADIG–A presidential comeuppance’, Soyinka said the worsening insecurity was an indication that Buhari is not in charge of his government.
He said the wave of “abduction once again of the nation’s children” in “Buhari’s terrain” is “a slap across the face of the commander-in-chief.”
He said he joined other people in using the word “Infra dignitatem” to any situation indicating assailing his dignity or statement unworthy of response.
“Once, the word featured prominently in the repertory of Nigerian shorthand diction. Indeed, I grew up thinking that it was only one word, not two, and assumed also that it was English, not Latin: infra dignitatem!
“I joined others in applying the shorthand to any situation where I felt that my dignity was assailed, that a chore was beneath my status, an individual beneath notice or a statement unworthy of response. Sometimes of course, it came useful when one could not think of an adequate response. Then, carrying myself as I had seen others do, I hissed, shook my head in disdain, and walked away as I spat out the ultimate sanction: Infradig!”
He recalled that that when the president was invited by the national assembly to appear before it amid the rising insecurity in the country, he (Buhari) did not initially consider the invitation as below the standard of behaviour.
He said the President considered the invitation as polite invitation to preserve the “tattered remains of his ‘born-again’ democratic camouflage.”
He stated that the president considered the invitation as a polite invitation to preserve the “tattered remains of his ‘Born-Again’ democratic camouflage.”
However, the playwright said Buhari’s failure to fufill his promise to honour the lawmakers’ invitation is an indication that Buhari is not in charge.
“That, to come to the present, constituted Buhari’s response to the National Assembly’s invitation to drop in for a chat. He did not consider it infradig at the beginning. He responded to the polite invitation to rub minds urgently over a people’s security anxieties as one who still struggled to preserve the tattered remains of his ‘Born-Again’ democratic camouflage.
“However, his reversal of consent raised yet again the frightening situation report I have fervently posed: Buhari is not in charge. Whoever is, that segment of the cabalistic control obviously cornered him on the way to the lawmakers’ chambers and urged: Don’t! Their invitation is infradig! He succumbed.
“Beneath the dignity of a Commander-in-Chief! Well. The opportunistic homicidal respondents -Bandits/Boko Haram or whoever – thereupon picked up the gauntlet and provided a response in their own language: abduction once again of the nation’s children. They handed him a slap across the face, on his home terrain, taunting: See if that is more suited to your dignity,” he said.
He also said the nation was at war considering the latest abduction of pupils reminiscent of the kidnap of Chibok schoolgirls in Born State on April 14, 2014.
He also condemned what he termed banal responses to genuine calls on government for action against insecurity.
“When others do, they deserve better than to be rewarded with banalities such as: The government will not be stampeded. The presidency will not be blackmailed. Stop politicising the issue. The president is committed to preserving the integrity of the nation. We will not be bullied into abandoning our commitment to national unity. The sovereignty of the nation is non-negotiable…. and so on and on, ad nauseam,” he added.
Meanwhile, northern elders under the umbrella of Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development said it had become obvious that northern Nigeria is at the mercy of terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements.
In a statement yesterday signed by its national coordinator, Mr. Zana Goni and national women leader, Mrs. Mario Bichi, the group condemned the attack on the schoolchildren, saying the development that came few days after the beheading of over 46 rice farmers in Zabarmari Village in Borno State, was disturbing.
The CNEPD reiterated its earlier call on President Buhari to seek foreign help.
It said any further delay might lead to extinction of the region following increasing mass killings by the terrorists.
“The latest attack on Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State, where over 333 children are reportedly missing has further confirmed our position that our region is now at the mercy of terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements.
“As a result of this, we strongly believe that time has come for our President to bring in fresh hope and clear directions on how best the country will strategise to overcome the present insecurity situation in the country in general,” the CNEPD said.
Also reacting, the Sultan of Sokoto and co-chairman of National Council of Traditional Rulers, Sa’ad Abubakar, expressed fresh concerns about the worsening insecurity in the country, saying they were fed up.
Abubakar, who led monarchs to Maiduguri, to commiserate with the government and people of Borno State on the killing of rice farmers in Zabarmari two weeks ago, also urged the military to occupy Sambisa Forest and Lake Chad region housing Boko Haram insurgents.
He lamented that insecurity is getting worse in the country.
The sultan told Zulum that they were in Maiduguri not only to commiserate with the governor but also to make a strong statement on the insecurity in the country.
“It is not just a condolence visit; it is a statement that all of us are fed up with the shedding of innocent blood under whatever guise across this country. So many lives have been lost in the past; we can’t even compute how many lives we have lost. It becomes like a daily occurrence, a daily event, a new normal. It becomes a story when in a day nobody was killed in a particular place of this country.
“We had at various fora with our political leaders, mentioned these things on how to take care of our security in various communities. We have written papers; sent our governors. We have discussed with all our leaders, all the way forward.
“But we see things getting worse and worse. It used to be Boko Haram alone in Borno and Yobe; now, in all over the North, in particular and generally all over the country. You have bandits and terrorists all over the North. You can’t even move freely in the South; it is the same thing. The killings have taken new dimensions and we really don’t know what are the causes of these mass killings of innocent people.
“We decided to come together as the council of traditional rulers to make this statement to all and sundry, not only to the governor of Borno State, but to all our governors. Let’s rise up to the occasion and see how we can come together to fight this menace of shedding innocent people’s blood,” he added.
