Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has opined that kidnapping is thriving in Nigeria because of the stage incestuous relationship between the government and the abductors.
This comes after the double abductions of at least 40 students and staff members of the Secondary School, Kagara and the NTSA (Niger State Transport Authority) bus that was kidnapped (with passengers) in Niger State.
While unconfirmed reports suggested that the students and staff members have been released to renowned Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi is a rumour, Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger State has since labelled the reports as the rumours.
Reacting on her Twitter handle, Ezekwesili brands the display of the government’s friendship with the abductors (bandits) in the faces of the citizens as a shame.
“There’s now an industry of abduction flourishing on basic market principles of demand and supply. It is enabled by a strange incestuous relationship between government and abductors. Folks in Federal and State Governments are throwing this friendship in faces of Citizens. SHAME,” she tweeted.
In a subsequent tweet, the rights activist lamented the fact that there is “still no positive development on the #KagaraBoys abduction,” from the government.
“Truly disastrous that Education is now under daily threat of barbarism,” she added and prayed that “God keep them safe until President @MBuhari reaches out to their abductors like he did for #KankaraBoys in Katsina.”
Speaking further, Ezekwesili questioned why the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), can’t channel the same energy to secure the release of Leah Sharibu from Boko Haram terrorists after three years as he did to secure the release of the Kankara boys.
Recall that more than 300 schoolboys from Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State by bandits on December 11 2020 before the government confirmed their release about a week after following negotiations between the bandits and the government.
“How the same kind of phone call and conversation between the @NigeriaGov @MBuhari and the abductors of #KankaraBoys cannot be done for #LeahSharibu and our remaining #112ChibokGirls is befuddling. Are school children in Nigeria not meant to be equal in the eyes of our President?
“It is 3 years today since the parents of #LeahSharibu last set their eyes on their daughter they sent to Dapchi Secondary School.
“Not a word from @MBuhari. No. Not a simple care nor courtesy to a family devastated when @NigeriaGov got her 105 classmates back without Leah. SHAME,” she added.
A December 2020 report from rights group Amnesty International revealed that criminal gangs operating in the northwest have killed more than 1,100 people in the first half of 2020 alone.
In the northeast, Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, have waged a 10-year rebellion estimated to have displaced about two million people and killed more than 30,000.
