Nasir Ahmad El-RufaiThe Kaduna State Governor, Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai has said that his government had planned to launch a counter attack to wipe off the bandits who kidnapped students in the state, even if it meant losing some of the victims in the process, than paying any form of ransom.
The governor, who made this known during a webinar, organized by the Africa Leadership Group, said that plan had actually been concluded before the bandits released 27 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Kaduna State, to go on offensive against the criminals.
According to the Governor, in a video clip, in response to a question on his policy of not negotiating with kidnappers and payment of ransom, the loss of lives of kidnap victims would only be collateral damage and a price he would be willing to pay instead of paying ransom to the criminals.
“Two days after the abduction of the Afaka young people, I was assured by the air force and the army that they knew where the kidnappers were with the students and they had encircled them.
“We were going to attack them. We would lose a few students but we would kill all the bandits and we would recover some of the students.
“That was our plan. That was the plan of the air force and the army… But they slipped through the cordon of the army. That is why they were not attacked.
“We know it is risky. We know in the process we may lose some of the abductees but it is a price we have to pay.
“This is war, there will always be collateral damage in war and we will rather do that than pay money because paying money has not solved the problem anywhere in the world.”
